Akane
by Kirinin
Summary: Akane wakes up amnesiac, having blocked out the past six months of her life due to a recent trauma. Friends are deserting her and family is stepping lightly. The quest to find what's missing leads her to a dark place. Is she sure she wants to remember?
1. Chapter One

**Something you should know...**

**The version of this fic is really sloppy and unedited. I apologize, but I'm not fixing it here. You can visit my profile and go to my homepage. On my page, you'll find a much prettier, more grammatically correct version. I highly recommend you view it there. Thanks, and sorry for any inconvenience!**

**-K**

Akane yawned and stretched, smiling at the bright sunshine outside the window. She was so happy it was a nice day; the last couple of days had been so gloomy. She shrugged herself out of her pajamas and threw a robe over herself, humming sunnily. It seemed it had been ages since she'd felt this happy.

Nabiki was hogging the bathroom, as usual. "Come on oneechan, I have to wash my hair!" Akane whined, but her heart wasn't in it. Today was just too nice a day to yell at anybody.

"Girls, breakfast is almost ready!" Kasumi called cheerily. Akane's lips quirked again. Trust oneechan to match her mood perfectly. Kasumi was this cheery on days that were cloudy, rainy, and during tornadoes as well. And monsoons. And.

"I'll be there in a minute!" Hmm, my hair will just have to without, today. "Nabiki, are you even in there?"

Some indecipherable grumbling rumbled out from behind the closed furrow door.

Akane attempted to get angry and failed. "Oh well." Smiling and still humming softly to herself, she went back into her room and pulled on her knee-length socks, followed by the blue skirt and jacket of Furinkan High.

When she arrived downstairs, Kasumi was just setting out the plates of food. The savory smells of rice and fish wafted over to Akane. "Mmmm, that smells fantastic! As usual."

Kasumi beamed at the compliment.

"Just so, dear, just so," Soun agreed, his words garbled slightly by the pipe protruding out from between his teeth. He shook his newspaper slightly to punctuate the statement.

"Nabiki! Oh where is that girl?" Kasumi queried to herself, her voice bordering on annoyed. "She's usually not this late."

"Ere I am," Nabiki slurred softly, plopping down in front of the food and setting to with a will.

"Not even an 'itedakimasu', Nabiki?" Kasumi chided.

"Itedakimasu," Nabiki repeated woodenly, then shoved more rice into her mouth.

Kasumi's eyebrow twitched in unison with Akane's. As far as Akane was aware, nobody had ever sassed Kasumi. Akane shrugged at Kasumi and sat down beside her other sister, her ebullient mood softened somewhat.

Akane slowly ate her meal, examining both of her sisters. The two of them both seemed wrapped in an ineffable silence. Kasumi appeared to be in what amounted to an extremely gentle form of shock; Nabiki appeared to be single- mindedly interested in her food, as though unaware she'd committed a faux pas of the greatest order.

Akane's gaze wavered to the seat next to her father. It was strange, but it seemed like somebody should be sitting there who wasn't. Someplace between Kasumi and her dad.

Mother. Her mood deflated even more. I thought I was over that for the most part. But that empty seat is making me so sad.


	2. Chapter Two

Akane walked to school, swinging her schoolbag back and forth. Her former lovely mood had dissipated like mist in a heat wave. She wondered why she felt so strange today. Perhaps it was because she missed P-chan. P-chan had been missing ever since.  
  
Ah, so that was it.  
  
Akane stopped with the realization. Perhaps it was because she was beginning to remember. That would be something, wouldn't it?  
  
The thought scared her. She didn't think she wanted to remember. Her subconscious certainly didn't want her to, or she would have by now. She had no head trauma; Dr. Tofu had said so, and she trusted him. All she had was a couple of bruises that had long since faded away to pale skin.  
  
Akane grimaced, remembering how much everyone had cried over her. It was ridiculous! She was with them, and unharmed. And they'd still cried over her like she had died. Like somebody had died, or something. That thought sent alarm signals running through her head; and her mind inched away from it, like a threatened animal. For a moment, the terrifying thought remained in her head that she was a ghost of some kind.  
  
"I'm really letting my imagination run away with me," Akane sighed, resolutely continuing her march to school.  
  
"Where are the both of you headed?"  
  
Akane jumped. "Hiroshi - damn it --!"  
  
Hiroshi's grin immediately slipped off his face. "Hey, I'm sorry if I scared you. You okay?"  
  
Akane forced herself to relax. "I just.. I don't know. I think I'm starting to remember."  
  
Hiroshi fell in step beside her. "Wow. I mean - uhm -"  
  
Akane smiled for his benefit. "Erudite as always."  
  
The dark-haired boy shrugged. "But of course."  
  
For a while they walked in silence, Akane swinging her arms with deliberate cheer, Hiroshi glancing at every now and then and looking faintly bothered.  
  
Worried. He's worried about me. "I'm fine, Hiroshi, so stop looking at me like I'm going to explode, okay?"  
  
Hiroshi started, then chuckled. "I was just wondering what it is that you remembered."  
  
"A feeling." Akane paused. "A very bad feeling. I could actually feel that I didn't want to remember what happened. You know when you think of something you'd really rather not think about? Like. like that exam we've got Wednesday."  
  
"Eep."  
  
"Right. It's like that, but. well, a lot worse. And like a sore tooth that you don't want to press with your tongue. do you know what I mean?"  
  
"Sure." Hiroshi's voice sounded conciliatory enough to make Akane wonder. Was he just humoring her?  
  
Akane sighed. After that, she sure wasn't going to mention the somebody dead part. 


	3. Chapter Three

Kuno hovered over her desk. "Are you certain that you're alright?"  
  
"Stop it," Akane warned him sharply.  
  
He shrugged. "If thou needst me."  
  
"I'll know where to go. Now, come on, class is about to start."  
  
Hiroshi winked at her as the True Blunder made his exit. "Think he could be a little more persistent?"  
  
"Only if he had a chain attached to my waist," Akane quipped. "I realize I've been having a little trouble with my memory and all, but I just don't get why everybody thinks I'm going to fall apart physically. My body's just fine!"  
  
Hiroshi's gaze wandered over her as if to say that yes it certainly was, but he had learned to avoid comments like that after the first two or three times. Instead, he nodded understandingly.  
  
"Sometimes I wish you'd just say something," she mumbled under breath.  
  
"What do you mean?" Hiroshi asked her.  
  
Akane sighed. "I didn't think you'd catch that. I just mean - It's nice to have somebody to listen. Really nice." She smiled sweetly at him. "But if you don't really respond, but just keep nodding. I can't tell what you're thinking."  
  
"Ah, but that's the idea," Hiroshi told her with another wink. "That would be telling - and I'd lose my masculine mystique."  
  
Akane hit him with her notebook. "I'll show you mystique."  
  
"Class!"  
  
Ms. Hinako was in adult form, which meant she had just drained somebody. If the offense had been severe, she was in a very bad mood. If the offense had been minor, she was in a very good one.  
  
Akane gulped. One never could tell.  
  
"Class - repeat after me: Japan, the United States, China, Russia, Canada." Hinako-sensei paused. "No, Russia. Enunciate the 'r', children, this is English class. that's right. Romania."  
  
Akane allowed herself to phase out. Repeating Hinako would only last until the woman lapsed into a girl again, and she wanted this time to think - before the class got entirely out of hand.  
  
After 'the incident' regarding her memory, Akane's friends had stopped seeing her. Oh, not at first, of course - but girls who had thought the entire idea was awfully romantic changed their minds after seeing her. Akane admitted to herself that during that first week she'd been rather. spacey. In the end, Kuno and Hiroshi were the only ones who still really spoke to her.  
  
It was ironic, Akane mused (while mouthing the word "diary") that the hated boys turned out to be her most loyal friends. She snuck a look at Hiroshi, who'd been staring at her back, and smiled. So what if he wanted to kiss her? He was still sticking around, and not pressing the issue. And meanwhile, he was really cool when he wasn't coming on to her.  
  
As for Kuno, nobody had expected him to fall off the map except for Akane herself. Akane was aware she'd been well-liked before her loss of memory. She had only realized how popular she had been in the absence of that popularity. And when she had been popular, it had made sense that the most powerful and martially talented guy in school, Kuno, should want her for a girlfriend. It almost made too much sense, like it was simply an expectation. The moment she'd entered ninth grade, he saw and fell for her. In Akane's book Kuno's obsession was an easy come, easy go sort of situation.  
  
Yet Kuno had kept on as well. Akane sometimes found herself feeling grateful. Even if he was an ego-driven obsessive maniac.  
  
"Akane-san!"  
  
Akane stood up with a jolt. What was the last thing Hinako-sensei had asked them to say? She didn't even vaguely remember.  
  
"Please say 'Nice to meet you' in English!"  
  
Akane sighed. This was easy. "Nice to meet you."  
  
Hinako nodded. "Now try 'It's really nice to meet you.'"  
  
Akane stiffened. She hadn't practiced her pronunciation in ages. "Uhm - It's leally nice to - "  
  
"Akane-san, please see me after class."  
  
The youngest Tendo thumped back into her seat, vaguely aware that Hiroshi was sticking his tongue out at Hinako or her, or the both of them. She didn't much care.  
  
"Miss Tendo, may I remind you that it is almost April? Soon you'll be taking your entrance exams, and did you not wish to go to Tokyo University?"  
  
When the heck is she gonna shrink and demand candy? "Yes, 'm."  
  
"It will come as no surprise to you when I tell you that your grades are dropping in every subject. You don't seem to be able to concentrate, or focus, and you don't seem to be hanging around with the same group of girls as before."  
  
Akane's head snapped up. ".I didn't realize you'd notice that."  
  
Hinako's gaze softened. "I realize that you've gone through an astounding amount these past six months, Akane-san. And I realize that you miss . your old life very much. But now is the time to show us all what a Tendo's really made of, right?"  
  
Akane blinked. "Y-yeah. I mean, yes, ma'am!"  
  
Hinako-sensei smiled. "I'm very glad to hear you say that, Miss Tendo. We all miss the way things used to be." She sighed, softly. "Even me."  
  
Akane frowned, wondering why the teacher seemed so moved.  
  
Noting Akane's confusion, Hinako-sensei's expression smoother. "Well? Dismissed!"  
  
Akane slipped out into the hallway to find Hiroshi waiting for her.  
  
"Well? Did she chew you out?"  
  
"Not really, it was more of a pep talk," Akane replied lightly.  
  
"I'm not sure which is worse," Hiroshi murmured.  
  
"No, I really am thinking about what she said. She's right. I'm letting myself slip, just when it matters." Akane's frown was puzzled.  
  
Hiroshi smiled. "I guess so." He paused. "Well, you wanted feedback. So, it's nice to hear you talk that way again, like school matters to you."  
  
Akane felt her eyes sting; she looked at her shoes, and at the linoleum tiling of Furinkan's hallways. "Yeah?"  
  
"Definitely." 


	4. Chapter Four

"Stop it. I said stop it!!!"  
  
He sees her stop and so stops also. Had that been Nabiki? Before she knew what she was doing, Akane had turned to the voice and began to run.  
  
It was indeed Nabiki. The older girl looked harried as she faced down two junior guys, her back to the lockers.  
  
"Hey," Hiroshi spoke up in his prerogative as a male. "What's going on here?"  
  
The two turned to face Hiroshi and Akane. Akane recognized them as two guys from the kendo club. They sneered.  
  
Nabiki looked apologetic and embarrassed, as though she couldn't possibly bear the fact that her little sister and her friend had come to her rescue. "It's nothing," she said, not sounding at all convincing.  
  
"That's tight, it's nothing," the two juniors hissed. "Why don't you two go back to class, huh?"  
  
Hiroshi and Akane exchanged nervous glances. "What's really going on here?" Akane demanded.  
  
"The girl just owes s some money, that's all." The burlier of the two guys suggested pleasantly.  
  
"I do not owe you money," Nabiki spat, regaining some of her fire in the presence of reinforcements. "You lost that bet fair and square."  
  
"You rigged it," the smaller junior proclaimed.  
  
"I tilted it in my favor," Nabiki agreed. "But if you were stupid enough to take such a dumb bet, then it's your own fault and not mine."  
  
"Come on guys," Hiroshi began soothingly, stepping between Nabiki and her assailants. "I'll bet we can figure this all out - "  
  
That was when the punch connected squarely to his jaw.  
  
Akane took up a loose stance. "You hit my friend," she growled. She could feel something building within her. Her only real friend, Hiroshi; what if he didn't want to be around her anymore, since it was so dangerous? They'd pay for that!  
  
Nabiki edged out from her position, now that the kendo juniors were no longer focused on her. She crept until she stood behind Akane, who was wreathed in blue flame.  
  
"Shi. shi. HOKODAN!" Akane cried.  
  
The blast was very small, but it was enough to singe and frighten the boys into taking off down the hall at a pretty fantastic pace. "There," Akane said firmly.  
  
Then she fell to her knees.  
  
"Thank you. Again," Nabiki said dully. "I really thought I was going to get beaten up that time."  
  
Akane whirled on her older sister, ready to scream at her and admonish her to never scare her like that again. But then she saw Hiroshi, who had been rather soundly decked, spread out on the floor like a rag doll. "Kami- sama! We have to get him to the nurse!"  
  
Nabiki sighed and stood a little shakily.  
  
"Are you okay?" Akane asked her.  
  
Nabiki nodded. "Didn't really sleep last night," she murmured faintly. "But maybe all of us could use a visit, huh?"  
  
Akane nodded back, shaking a little bit of the weariness from herself. She felt so. empty. So alone. And yet she was viewing the emotion almost outside herself, like she knew it wasn't real. "Wait a moment," she said softly. It seemed like she was feeling more herself every second.  
  
"The backwash," Nabiki said suddenly. "You have to wait for all your energy to come back."  
  
"I'd almost forgotten," Akane said dreamily. This disconnected feeling was like being drugged. Once she'd had an operation when she was five. It was strange how vividly she remembered that slipping feeling. This was just the same.  
  
"We'll wait here a moment or two," Nabiki replied, seeming grateful for the reprieve.  
  
Akane glanced at her older sister, who looked about thirty. Why was she so upset? A strange, nasty thought occurred to her. Had Nabiki somehow had a hand in her loss of memory, or in what caused that loss? Of so, she appeared to be paying for it. Maybe Nabiki was simply worried over her. Or maybe it was something totally unrelated.  
  
Whatever it was that was making Nabiki act so strangely, it was affecting her work and her health. She's never come that close to being manhandled before. She was always very careful with her business transactions. Akane shook her head to clear it. "I think I'm alright, now. Let's get Hiroshi."  
  
Between the two of them, they managed to drag the boy to the burse's station, which was usually completely overrun. They got lucky, and there was time to treat all three of them.  
  
Nabiki fell asleep and ended up staying at the nurse's for the rest of the day. When Kuno arrived to escort her home, she not only did not protest, she did not wake. 


	5. Chapter Five

Akane shook her head as Nabiki railed at her. "I had to let him carry you, Nabiki, you wouldn't wake up!"  
  
Nabiki's lips thinned. "You should have tried harder. Half the town has probably seen him carrying me down the road!"  
  
Akane snorted. "So what? What do you care?"  
  
"I thought you wouldn't have asked a guy to do anything," Nabiki hissed at her.  
  
"I was still wiped out," Akane protested. "I don't do ki attacks every day, you know. Not like some people."  
  
Nabiki's eyes flashed. "Like who?"  
  
"Like Ryoga, of course," Akane declared, clicking her tongue in irritation. "I don't know why it matters to you so much, anyway."  
  
Nabiki shrugged casually. "Maybe I don't like Kuno very well."  
  
"Who actually does? But he's useful once in awhile," Akane bit off.  
  
Nabiki frowned silently for a moment. "I wish you wouldn't say things like that. It really spoils that whole princess bit you've got going."  
  
Akane grimaced. "It's better than being taken for a mercenary and a thief! Besides, nobody thinks I'm a princess anymore. they think I'm a freak!" Akane felt her emotions bubble up inside herself, with no release. She wanted to do a Shi shi hokodan but did not want to have that disquieting empty feeling afterwards.  
  
She settled for slamming her bedroom door.  
  
Akane had never felt she was so miserable ever before. Kasumi, after hearing the argument between Nabiki and she, had absented herself from the premises on the pretext of necessary shopping. Soun had alternated between ignoring the two of them and bursting into tears.  
  
And Akane had wondered if she wasn't snapping at Nabiki just because of those stupid memories that wouldn't go away and yet refused to come any closer. They were giving her a terrible feeling of dread that was just out of reach, like something staring at the back of her neck all the time. It was bound to make her snap at people. Not that Nabiki hadn't deserved every word, of course.  
  
Akane cradled her stuffed pig. She wished for the umpteenth time that P- chan were with her, so she could talk to him - Hiroshi! He would listen to her.  
  
Akane dialed with shaking hands. "Hiroshi?" she exclaimed into the receiver.  
  
"No, I'm sorry, this is his mother. May I ask who's calling?"  
  
Akane gulped. "Oh, dear, I'm very sorry. I'm Tendo Akane. May I speak to your son?"  
  
"Certainly dear. Just a moment."  
  
Akane waited with bated breath. She'd never done this before, but she didn't suppose her father would object, but maybe Hiroshi would think that-  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, Hiroshi? It's Akane. Ah- how's the eye?"  
  
"Black and blue as all hell. But it doesn't really hurt unless I blink."  
  
"Listen, Hiroshi, I was wondering. can - can you come over?"  
  
There was a long pause. "Come over?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
There was yet another long pause. "Sure."  
  
"Let me give you my address."  
  
"It's alright. I already have it."  
  
"Y-you do? But - "  
  
"Don't worry. I haven't been stalking you or anything. I was friends with - uhm, a houseguest of yours. During the missing time period, you know. I've been there a bunch of times. I'll see you in ten or fifteen minutes, okay?"  
  
"Okay. Hiroshi?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Thanks for coming on such short notice and everything."  
  
"No prob. See you soon."  
  
"Bye." Akane swallowed. She had done it. She had actually invited a boy over. To sit on her bed. To.  
  
She sighed. To talk. And to listen.  
  
Akane sat downstairs in front of the television, whiling away the time until Hiroshi arrived, but she scarcely saw the picture in front of her or heard the words that the busty heroine was spouting tearfully. She didn't come truly alive again until she heard the doorbell. "I really am sorry that I called you so late and everything," Akane said to Hiroshi, stepping aside to let him in. She forced herself to slow her voice down, to calm down, to stop behaving like a hysterical girl.  
  
"It's seriously not a problem," Hiroshi assured her. "It's not like my parents were asleep yet. They really stay up till all hours."  
  
Akane felt the beginnings of a smile creep across her face. "Do they?"  
  
"Yeah, it's rare they go to bed before midnight. I think they're concerned that I'm not more of a party animal."  
  
Akane giggled. "C'mon, let's go upstairs."  
  
"Can we make some food first? I'm starving."  
  
"Boys. Always thinking of their stomachs," Akane chided him.  
  
"Girls - always trying to get you to their rooms -"  
  
Akane flushed with a mixture between anger and embarrassment. "That's not it! I just. I wanted to talk, that's all!" Her hands balled into fists.  
  
"Hey, I'm sorry," Hiroshi apologized readily. "I didn't mean it like that. I was just being stupid, trying to be funny - you know."  
  
Akane deflated. "I'm edgy lately."  
  
Hiroshi's incredulous expression said rather clearly that 'edgy' was something of an understatement, but he remained mute. For once, Akane was very glad.  
  
"We can get some food. Come on," she replied. "I'm sure that there were leftovers. Kasumi got sort of angry, bought an insane amount of food, and cooked up a storm. She tends to do that when she's upset."  
  
"Kasumi? Upset? I can't even begin to imagine what might have caused that one!"  
  
Akane blinked at him. "You know Kasumi?"  
  
"I said I'd been here a bunch of times. I remember her from then. And it's not like you don't talk about her; that's filled in the rest."  
  
Akane looked down at her feet, feeling a curious chill run through her. It was the most direct evidence she'd ever seen that a big piece of her life was missing. It felt strange. It felt like an episode of 'The Twilight Zone.'  
  
It felt. real, all of a sudden. Those were days she might never get back.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine, really," Akane demurred. "Let's raid the fridge."  
  
Armed with sandwich making items, pickles, sodas, and a bag of chips, the two teenagers climbed the stairs and entered Akane's room.  
  
"So this is it," Hiroshi murmured, glancing about Akane's room as though it were some kind of shrine.  
  
"You've. you've never been in here?" Akane queried tentatively.  
  
"Nah, mostly we hung around downstairs and outside," the boy replied carefully.  
  
"Hiro. there's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"  
  
Hiroshi paused. "I want to be honest with you, Akane. But. the last time somebody told you what happened, you had a screaming fit. At least that's what Nabiki said. At first I thought it was an angle, but she was deadly serious."  
  
Akane frowned. "But I don't remember - " She paused as a seeming flood of sounds and images nearly overwhelmed her.  
  
Hospital. White. Too white. Somebody screaming. That was so loud - it was too loud. Couldn't anybody stop that stupid girl from screaming? "Doctor! Hold her down!"  
  
Pain. Arm. Quiet. Thank goodness she stopped. Now I can finally get some sleep.  
  
Akane shook her head violently. "I. Okay. I guess I see why you don't really want to tell me. I guess I understand." She looked up with a determined light in her eyes. "But Hiroshi - can't you at least tell me her name? The girl who stayed with us, who. did she die?"  
  
Hiroshi took a very deep breath. "Yeah, Akane."  
  
Akane nodded to herself. It made an awful lot of sense. Perhaps she'd seen it and it'd been in some gruesome fashion. "So I saw it?"  
  
"Nobody knows," Hiroshi said. "I'm sorry that I can't tell you. You didn't remember, yourself, and you were the only witness to what happened."  
  
Akane gulped, and spoke her worst fear aloud. "What if I did it?"  
  
"That's impossible," Hiroshi told her, enough certainty in his voice to comfort her. "They ran a pretty thorough investigation, and there was none of your DNA anyplace - except where they found you. The police investigator said it looked like you walked up, saw what had happened, and fainted on the spot."  
  
Akane sighed, greatly relieved. "I mean, I don't think I could, I mean, I don't think I would, but the gap is a couple of months, right? Is that long enough for somebody to go bonkers, or what?"  
  
Hiroshi gave her a wry grin. "Somebody can go crazy all in an instant." He began fixing himself a sandwich.  
  
Akane watched his hand move from the ham to the swiss cheese as though its movements held the key to the very universe. "That's not very comforting," she replied softly.  
  
"Nope," Hiroshi agreed.  
  
"Why did I ask you to talk back, anyway?" Akane teased, doing her best to smile. "Whatever happened to 'uh huh, Akane', and 'yeah' and 'nope' and that little head-nod you do with a grunt to show you're listening?"  
  
"You asked for it, you got it," Hiroshi informed her firmly. "The whole nine yards, ne?"  
  
Akane grimaced. "Yeah." She took an especially vicious bite out of her sandwich. "So what. what was her name?"  
  
"Akane. You have to understand, that's what made you go berserk in the first place."  
  
"I'll brace myself," Akane replied tightly. "Say it."  
  
Hiroshi looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Anna. It was Anna."  
  
Akane blinked. "Are. are you certain?"  
  
"It might have been something a lot like that. That sounded like that. I think it began with an 'R'."  
  
Akane stared at him. "You're trying to get me to say it, aren't you?"  
  
Hiroshi grinned at her nervously. "I admit that information from Nabiki is sometimes suspect, but when she says, and I quote 'To anybody who says THAT NAME in front of Akane, they will get their entrails and their eyeballs handed to them personally. In that order." You understand where I'm coming from?"  
  
"So we're playing a guessing game now. So it's Ranna?"  
  
"One of those n's is and m. Try again."  
  
"Ranma?"  
  
There was a long pause. Hiroshi did not nod, but Akane knew by his silence that she had guessed it.  
  
"It's alright. I'm not screaming. I'm not, okay?"  
  
Hiroshi relaxed. "Whew!"  
  
"So this girl - Ranma - lived with us for awhile? How long?"  
  
"Oh, about a year or so."  
  
Akane paused. "But I don't get it. My memories are six months gone."  
  
Hiroshi nodded. "Except stuff that involves. that person."  
  
"Ranma? You can say it, Hiro, I give you permission."  
  
"Ranma."  
  
Akane shivered. It was strange, but when somebody else said it, she felt how. bad it was. How strange. How unearthly. Almost. cursed? Did Ranma have something wrong with her?  
  
A flash of red accompanied the thought.  
  
Blood?  
  
Hair!  
  
Ranma had red hair. Ranma was a tomboy. Ranma was infuriating!  
  
Hiroshi had her by the shoulders. "Akane! Are you alright?"  
  
"Hi-Hiroshi? I'm really okay. It's fine, really. I just sort of phased out for a moment. Ranma had red hair? And she bugged me a lot of the time - but we were friends weren't we?"  
  
Hiroshi smiled. "You two were like family. Sometimes you fought like cats and dogs, but you always made up and always stuck together. You helped each other when there was trouble, no matter what."  
  
Akane nodded; that sounded about right. "And I saw Ranma die."  
  
Hiroshi's eyes crinkled with sympathy. "I think so." He nodded and poured himself some soda, then tilted his head at Akane in a wordless query.  
  
"Sure, my throat is getting really parched from talking so much." Akane accepted the drink he handed her and sipped it slowly. "That's better," she sighed. "You know Hiroshi? We think we're so strong. I thought I was the strongest person I know. But one moment managed to knock me flat." Akane took a long sip, focusing briefly on the cool path it made down her throat.  
  
Hiroshi looked at her wordlessly before offering Akane his open hand. Tentatively, Akane placed her own palm across his.  
  
"Thank you," she said softly.  
  
"All I'm doing is sitting here," he protested, but Akane noticed a faint blush around his ears. He cleared his throat. "Is there anything else you remember about Ranma?"  
  
Akane smiled, squeezing Hiroshi's hand tightly. "I hate to keep on talking like this. Is there anything you want to tell me?"  
  
Hiroshi shrugged. "Well, there's this girl that I like. I was wondering if you could give me some advice, me being so clueless and all."  
  
Akane frowned, confused. She'd been so sure that Hiro had a crush on her. She felt her face fall. Somehow, even though she didn't want anything from him, it had still been nice to be liked.  
  
"A memory?"  
  
Akane looked up at him startled. He must have seen my expression. "Oh - no, its nothing. Is it Sayuri? I noticed you've been talking to her more lately." Hiroshi nodded. "Do you like her a lot?"  
  
Hitoshi presented her a relieved smile. "I was afraid you wouldn't understand. I mean, normally I'd talk this over with Dai, but ever since he moved I've had nobody to talk to about girls. I hope you don't mind."  
  
Akane snorted. "Of course I don't. So what's the question?" Akane presented him with her listening face, vaguely aware Hiroshi had removed his hand from hers.  
  
"I've known her forever, and I was just wondering how to bring up the idea of something more than friendship." Hiroshi scratched the back of his head nervously.  
  
Akane paused to consider this, pushing her emotions on the matter aside, determined to give good advice. "Do some nice things for her, take her out to eat, or to a movie. Then, at the end, give her a romantic gift - I don't know a teddy bear or something - and ask her if she'd like to be your girlfriend."  
  
Hiroshi laughed a little and shook his head. Akane raised an eyebrow. "Did I say something funny?"  
  
"It's just a little typical, don't you think? It doesn't seem personal. I'll bet that's what every guy does."  
  
Akane felt a corner of her mouth climb up. Trust Hiroshi to not be exactly like every other guy. "Put yourself in my place," he continued. "What would you do?"  
  
Akane closed her eyes and considered again. "Don't treat her like she's somebody to be bought. Give her something inexpensive, but personal." She opened one eye to peer at him. "Kuno once gave me a pair of small diamond studs. I can't tell you how insulted I was - because he knew how I felt about him, but somehow thought an expensive gift like that would change my mind."  
  
"Well, Kuno's a thoughtless bastard."  
  
Akane's smile twinkled. "Duly noted. You should still take her out, though. Offer to pay twice. Any more is insulting. And nothing corny like opening a car door for her or offering her your jacket - unless she really seems cold."  
  
Hiroshi blinked. "You've really thought about this, huh?"  
  
"Hey, every girl has her vision of the perfect date. Me, I'm a sucker for the occasional chivalrous gesture - but if it's repeated too often, the guy looks like." Akane floundered.  
  
"Like Kuno?"  
  
"I was searching for somebody else to mention but that pretty much hits the nail on the head," Akane giggled.  
  
"Thanks for the advice."  
  
"No problem," Akane replied softly. "And, uhm - thanks for coming. It was really nice to have you over."  
  
Noting his cue, Hiroshi rose. "Well, like I said, you already paid me back. I'll talk to you tomorrow at school, alright?"  
  
"Yeah," Akane replied, feeling strangely empty. "Later Hiro. Hope your eye feels better."  
  
Hiroshi shrugged as if to demonstrate that it wasn't really a very big deal. "Pick you up for school?"  
  
Akane's eyes briefly met his. He was still her friend. "That'd be great." 


	6. Chapter Six

Akane paused her hand inches from rapping on Nabiki's bedroom door. She had yelled at her sister pretty recently, and said some nasty things. But now she needed her.  
  
"Oneechan?" she whispered. "You awake?"  
  
There was a small pause. "No, go away."  
  
Akane slipped inside and closed the door gently behind her. The lights were on. Nabiki was sitting at her computer and gazing at what appeared to be a random set of symbols, as far as Akane could tell.  
  
"I said, go away."  
  
Akane shrugged. "You also said you were asleep, no da?"  
  
After a couple of moments of silence, Akane tried again. "I'm really very sorry about what I said before, Nabiki. I hope you'll forgive me."  
  
Nabiki turned to face his younger sister, her expression surprisingly bleak. Akane wondered how anybody could look that bleak and still be smiling.  
  
"I'm not really angry with you," Nabiki informed her. "Or not very. But I couldn't let it go just like that, now could I?"  
  
Akane felt relieved and disgusted all at once. "I think both of us are a little on edge," she hazarded.  
  
"You can say that again," Nabiki replied tiredly. Her eyes flickered to the screen and back again.  
  
"Nabiki - you know I'm worried about you. I think Kasumi is, too. Even father has to have noticed you're acting strangely. It's not like you to foul up a transaction. Next time you might really get hurt." Akane paused, wondering if she could continue. If Nabiki wouldn't get seriously angry if she did. She clenched her jaw. "Maybe its time to quit while you're ahead?" Akane found that she'd trailed off a little at the end.  
  
Nabiki's eyes flickered with some indefinable emotion. "Perhaps you're right."  
  
Akane jumped. "Excuse me?"  
  
"I'm working on a project right now that seems to be taking up all of my time." She gestured obliquely in the direction of her computer screen. "With all the work I'm doing, I don't sleep, I barely eat. maybe its time to devote myself to this one endeavor entirely." Nabiki raised her hand to her mouth as she yawned.  
  
Akane frowned. "I-is it that important?"  
  
Nabiki didn't reply, but Akane supposed her question had been pretty self- evident.  
  
There was a pause in which Akane did her darndest to observe the contents of Nabiki's computer screen. As far as she could tell, the characters were not in any language she'd ever seen before.  
  
"Is there something else?" her elder sister inquired dryly.  
  
"Y-yes. Actually." Akane swallowed. "Would that - I mean, can you."  
  
"A favor?" Nabiki tried raising her eyebrows coolly but spoiled it by yawning.  
  
"Please," Akane tried again. "I-I think I'm beginning to remember those missing months."  
  
Nabiki's eyes flew open. "You are?"  
  
"There's a girl who was staying with us. Right?"  
  
"A girl?" Nabiki blinked, as if unsure about how to proceed. "Well, yes, she stayed with us some of the time. Why?"  
  
"Was her name Ranma?" Akane whispered.  
  
Nabiki sat bolt upright in her computer chair.  
  
"And - and is she. did she."  
  
Nabiki nodded. "I'm afraid so."  
  
"Since she stayed with us, do you have any pictures of her that I could see, please?"  
  
Nabiki's lips twitched, as though she were trying to start a smile. "Picture? She- she liked pictures, and she was very photogenic. I'm sure I have some. Let me look, and I'll give you a couple tomorrow. Is that okay?"  
  
Akane threw her arms around her sister's neck. "Thanks, oneechan. I really owe you."  
  
Nabiki's arms looped loosely around Akane's waist. "Nope, you don't - I'm not doing that stuff right now, remember? But I'll keep it in mind. for later." 


	7. Chapter Seven

Hiroshi smiled and waved as Akane came dashing from the house with her bento in one hand and her schoolbag in the other. "Hey, 'Kane!" he cried.  
  
"Check it out," Akane said, handing Hiroshi the photographs of Ranma.  
  
Hiro practically snatched them from her hands. "Whoa, Akane. Where'd you get these?"  
  
"Nabiki gave them to me."  
  
He let out a low whistle of surprise. "Amazing. I thought I'd never be able to say the name 'Ranma' again."  
  
That strange chill ran through Akane once more as he said that name. Still, her tone was wry when she answered. "I think its safe now."  
  
Hiroshi stopped walking as he flipped through the pictures.  
  
"Come on, Hiro, we're going to be late," she demanded impatiently.  
  
"It's just that. well, I wanted to say something to you Akane." He paused, as though searching for the right words. "Some of the things that are true about Ranma are really strange. I want you to tell me everything you think you remember, no matter how odd it is. Okay?"  
  
Akane frowned at him. "Well. okay, I guess. C'mon - now we've really got to hurry!"  
  
They took off at a dead run towards school. Something about the situation, Akane reflected, seemed awfully familiar. Her eyes kept straying to the fence to their right.  
  
Of course! I'll bet Ranma and I were late all the time. And she must've run across the -  
  
"Hey!" she called to Hiroshi. "Watch this!" With an enormous leap, she landed atop the fence by the bay.  
  
"What the --?!" the boy on the road exclaimed. "Get down from there! You'll get hurt!"  
  
Akane wobbled briefly before steadying herself. "Meeehhhh!" she exclaimed, sticking out her tongue. "We'll see about that!" Squaring her shoulders and readying herself, she took off at full tilt, that top rod of the fence hitting her foot exactly in the middle with each stride. And left-right, left-right, tilt to the left, and left-right, left-right, tilt to the right. And jump for the stupid woman with the wash water. And. "Huh?" Akane wobbled and fell away and to right of the fence.  
  
She surfaced, sputtering. That voice. That wasn't my voice. Whose voice was that? Was that. was that Ranma? Did she tell me how to do this trick?  
  
Hiroshi had climbed the fence and was staring at her, white as a sheet. "You've just taken five years off my life," he said. Even though he was trying for humor, Akane could hear the strain in his voice.  
  
"I. I'm really sorry, Hiro-kun," Akane apologized, leaping for the fence and climbing back over to the other side. "I don't know what came over me. I guess. I don't know. I really want to remember Ranma. It's starting to color everything I do."  
  
"It's really alright," he replied, calmer now. "Just please don't do that again. At least not where I can watch."  
  
Akane grinned at him and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Fine, fine. I promise not to freak you out again. Now honestly, let's go." She looked at her watch, which was rather waterlogged, and flicked it with her fingers. "It's stopped," she complained.  
  
Hiroshi shrugged, bringing his own wrist up to read the time. We're already late. We might as well take out time, now"  
  
The two strolled along until they reached the school, and were confronted by Kuno. Akane gave him his obligatory kick in the face before heading off to class, and subsequently, off to bucket-duty.  
  
The rest of the morning passed much like any other, except for the fact that Akane noticed Sayuri staring at her and them looking away. She wondered if the other girl was finally feeling guilty for snubbing her.  
  
At lunch, she and Hiro chatted about inconsequential things like the contents of their bentos, the weather, the latest movie, the boring nature of their history class. The subject of a certain red-head was avoided entirely, except when Hiroshi silently handed her the photos she had forgotten to reclaim earlier.  
  
Akane noticed Sayuri nervously making her way over to the two of them. "Can I help you?" she asked coldly. She was sorry to be so mean, and even a little angry with herself; but she couldn't help but need to get some of her own back after having been ignored for so long.  
  
Sayuri's expression remained neutral. "Hiroshi-kun has been telling me that you don't really remember the first week after you came back. Is that true?"  
  
Akane frowned at her, and looked at Hiro questioningly.  
  
"Sayuri," he began, sounding slightly irritated. "You'll have to be more clear. 'Came back' - she doesn't remember she was away."  
  
The girl in question blushed, "The. the." She paused in consternation. "When you went all. funny."  
  
Akane sighed, irritated. "No, I'm afraid I don't remember much of that."  
  
Sayuri and Hiroshi locked gazes. Akane didn't understand; it looked as though Hiroshi was giving the other girl a long-suffering look that said 'I told you so'. Tears began to gather in Sayuri's eyes. "Then - then you don't even know why I've been staying away from you?"  
  
"I assume it has something to do with the fact that everybody thinks I'm a freak, now," Akane replied testily. "Would you get to the point?"  
  
Sayuri blinked, causing tears to run down her cheeks. "I..." She suddenly bowed as far as she possibly could. "I'm very sorry, then. You might never forgive me... but... I..." She paused to gulp. "I was the one who first mentioned R-R-"  
  
"Ranma?" Akane whispered.  
  
"Yes. And your doctors forbade me from coming in again to see you." Sayuri blinked her tears away, looking miserable. "After that, when you got out of hospital, I was afraid I might upset you. Ranma had a lot to do with our lives, and I thought I might slip and mention him."  
  
Hiroshi caught her gaze and shook his head minutely. Akane caught it, but couldn't imagine what it referred to.  
  
Sayuri frowned and blinked-apparently, she didn't either. "Anyway-Hiroshi and I started talking, and he told me what you thought had happened-and I felt so miserable that I had to come over and tell you I was sorry. I'm your friend, Akane; we've been friends since grade school. I'm so sorry you thought what you did. But you're not a freak. You're just a girl who's had some strange, terrible things happen to her. That's all."  
  
Akane felt tears gather in her own eyes as Sayuri finally straightened from her bow. "You didn't mean to cause me to flip out-I did that on my own. If you hadn't mentioned Ranma, somebody else probably would have. And I'm sorry I assumed the worst. I should have realized there must have been some other reason you were staying away."  
  
"All right, all right, will you two just hug and make up already?" Hiroshi demanded. But he was grinning.  
  
The two girls blushed but then embraced for a very long time, patting each other on the back as though to make certain the other was real.  
  
"Sayuri-chan, why don't you join us?" Akane asked, real hope in her voice.  
  
Sayuri's eyes twinkled. "Sure, let me just go and get my bento. Y'know, with only this boy over here filling you in, you must've missed a lot of the best gossip. We're going to have to fix that."  
  
Akane nodded, practically speechless, as Sayuri jogged off to get her lunch.  
  
Hiroshi was quietly grinning.  
  
"You engineered all of this, didn't you? All that talking to Sayuri was just because you were trying to do this?" Hiroshi shrugged and smiled. "I couldn't have you moping around and staring at she and Yuka like you had an 'A' pinned to your chest," he informed her firmly.  
  
Akane threw herself into his embrace. "Oh, Hiro, I just love you!"  
  
Hiroshi awkwardly patted her on the back. "Uh-yeah."  
  
Sayuri arrived again, sitting herself down on the grass. "Hmm, am I interrupting something?"  
  
Akane jumped backwards, her cheeks ablaze. "Don't be silly. This baka here? And me? No way!"  
  
Hiro and Sayuri exchanged a glance and chuckled. "Sounds familiar."  
  
Akane had the feeling she was missing something, but the feeling was becoming uncomfortably familiar. She let it slide.  
  
"So, have you heard about Yuka's new boyfriend?"  
  
"Yuka's got a boyfriend?!" Akane laughed and smiled. Suddenly, she had the distinct impression her life was getting back to normal. And it felt good.  
  
That day, both Sayuri and Hiroshi walked her to her door. "So we're going to that movie later on, right?" Hiroshi asked.  
  
"Yeah, we're on," Akane replied. "Sayuri, can you come?"  
  
Sayuri frowned. "I'm sorry, Akane, but I swore I'd help my mother around the house today. I've been promising for ages, and she's really upset. Why don't the three of us go out for ice cream tomorrow after school, though, okay?"  
  
Akane was a little disappointed; she'd been looking forward to hanging out with a girl again. Still, she'd waited so long that one more day couldn't possibly hurt. "All right then. See you later!"  
  
She and Hiro waved at Sayuri as she jogged away. Akane smiled; Sayuri was one of those people who jogged or ran everyplace. It was something she'd forgotten about the other girl, and she was only too happy to be reminded.  
  
"So-see you at eight?" Hiroshi queried.  
  
"Yeah, eight," Akane replied. "See you then." Akane closed the gate behind her and walked up to the door of the house. "Tadiama!" she cried.  
  
A chorus of replies sounded throughout the house. Nabiki was sitting in the family room examining a large document, and Kasumi was moving around the room with a feather duster. Every now and then, she would dust Nabiki. "Quit it, oneechan!"  
  
Kasumi giggled. "Quit what?"  
  
Happy to see her sisters in such high spirits, Akane decided she would hang around downstairs for a little while before heading up to do homework. "What's everybody up to?" she queried, a smile on her lips.  
  
"Still working on that one case," Nabiki replied, looking up. "I followed your advice and narrowed my focus. It's just this and one or two other little things. My ops have been practically closed."  
  
Kasumi dusted the top of Akane's head. "What cobwebs," she commented, tsking under her breath.  
  
"You're not kidding," Akane replied wryly, but she felt like laughing. It seemed as though a great weight had been lifted from the occupants of the house; she wondered if everybody was having as good a day as she was. For Nabiki, it might have been the extra sleep; she was actually looking normal for once.  
  
"I'm dusting," Kasumi replied. "Spring cleaning." She dusted the top of Nabiki's knee. "You know, I've been meaning to do that." Presumably referring to the knee.  
  
"Quit it," Nabiki said with more force. She still didn't seem to mean it.  
  
Kasumi dusted Nabiki's chin.  
  
Now Nabiki couldn't help it. She giggled. "I mean it-stop..."  
  
  
  
Kasumi began to tickle in earnest, using an innovative and random attack pattern-behind the ears, under the chin, at the stomach, back to the chin, to the bottom of the feet. Akane joined in, tickling her older sister. Soon the battle became every girl for herself, and the three of them became a giggling mass.  
  
Finally, they came to the end of the battle, and they separated, panting and laughing. "I needed that," Kasumi said. She resumed dusting, humming happily.  
  
Nabiki nodded, grinning to herself, and picked up her work. For what seemed like the umpteenth time, Akane wondered what it was about and whether it involved Ranma somehow.  
  
"I'm going out tonight, okay Kasumi?" Akane queried.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, you'd better ask Father. I don't think he'll mind, though," Kasumi replied. "Is it with that Hiroshi boy?"  
  
"Yeah," Akane replied. "We're gonna see a flick later."  
  
"Language, Akane," Kasumi warned.  
  
Akane blinked. "Oh. Yeah. We're going to see a movie. I don't understand why it's so important to speak like that, though. I mean, plenty of people get by speaking improperly."  
  
Kasumi stared at her. "Like Ranma. But Ranma was never taken seriously as anything except a martial artist. If you're going to go to college and get a job, you need to know how to speak properly." She paused in thought for a moment before winking at her little sister. "I don't mean to go on."  
  
"It's okay, Kasumi-oneechan. I know. I should speak more respectfully anyway." Akane shrugged and smiled. Her hands jammed in her pockets in an unconscious parody of her third Ranma picture, she strode upstairs.  
  
Both sisters' eyes followed her up. "Oh, my," Kasumi breathed.  
  
"You said it." Nabiki began to read the paper in front of her with increased vigor. 


	8. Chapter Eight

Akane checked her watch, before remembering she'd drowned it early in the day. Still, she supposed it was somewhere near eight o'clock. I should get ready. Hmm, makeup? Eh, why not? Some lipstick and that's it, then. Money. I have a couple of yen, enough for the movie and maybe an ice cream or a bit of candy. Shoes. Shoes, where are the shoes?  
  
Hiroshi was early. Akane skipped downstairs, then froze.  
  
He was wearing a sweater and khakis. He looked. nice. He was holding a very small bouquet of daisies with one white rose.  
  
THIS IS A DATE!  
  
Good lord. How had this happened? Akane looked down at herself faintly, reassessing her outfit and judging it still appropriate. She continued down the steps but much more slowly now, noting that she suddenly could scarcely feel her legs. "Hiroshi?"  
  
He turned to face her, a terribly abashed expression on his face. "Hey, 'Kane." He shrugged. "You can decide not to come if you want. I don't mean to force you into anything."  
  
He didn't even have to say the word 'date', Akane reflected. His actions were perfectly clear. "I'm the girl who you were talking about last night." she began hesitantly.  
  
"Yeah. I followed your advice. Did it work?"  
  
A timorous smile hovered over her lips. "Yeah. Let's go then."  
  
Hiro's smile widened. "I love your way with words."  
  
Akane gazed at him wryly and somewhat appraisingly. She didn't mind going on a date with him. He was a really nice guy, and she knew they'd stay friends even if they decided they didn't really like one another that way. "Kasumi-oneechan?"  
  
Kasumi appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. "Yes, Akane?"  
  
"I'll be home around eleven, okay?"  
  
"That's fine," The older girl's smile twinkled. "Have fun."  
  
Akane winkled. "I intend to. C'mon, Hiro, let's blow this - " Her eyes went to Kasumi, whose expression bordered on annoyed. "I mean, why don't we go now?" Kasuni smiled approvingly.  
  
Soun glared at the two of them as they were leaving; or, Akane decided, glared at her date. Hiroshi looked slightly discomfited, but greeted her father anyway.  
  
"Akane, are you dating this boy?" he finally asked, a hint of disapproval in his tone.  
  
"Not dating, daddy, going on a date. There's a difference." Akane sighed and exchanged a glance with Hiroshi. Her father had funny ideas about the youngest daughter, and Akane wondered what he'd do next.  
  
Predictably, he burst into tears. "Waahhh, my baby girl is dating again!"  
  
"C'mon, Hiro, let's get out of here," Akane said, grabbing the boy by the elbow and dragging him out away from the spectacle of a 40 year old, wailing like an infant. Something about her father's comment had disturbed her though, she reflected as the two of them left the Tendo grounds enclosure. What did he mean, again?  
  
The movie was interesting and involving enough for Akane to forget utterly that she was on a date. The special effects were amazing, but Akane couldn't help but reflect that Ryoga - and perhaps, Ranma? - could do much the same without the aid of computer, lights, and wires holding them from the ceiling of a studio. The plot, however, was also excellent, and it distracted her from that fact.  
  
Afterwards, though, she felt herself becoming uncomfortable. Hiroshi walked along beside her in awkward silence, kicking at a stone that happened to be in his way. Akane wondered briefly where her talkative friend had gone. "So, Hiroshi," she began, hoping to begin a conversation. "Did the rock do something to you in a former life, or are you just a little uncomfortable?" She didn't mean to tease him, but she knew they connected through their sense of humor.  
  
She was rewarded with a strained laugh. "D'you think Kuno's gonna beat me up for this one?"  
  
Akane smiled. "Oh, yes. Most certainly. Don't worry though. I'll protect you."  
  
Hiroshi seemed more at ease now, and he grinned his lopsided grin at her. "Maybe he'll give you up, finally."  
  
"Yeah. And maybe I'll turn into a boy tomorrow and I won't have to worry about it," Akane replied sarcastically.  
  
Hiroshi stopped walking. "Huh?"  
  
"What?" Akane demanded. "What did I say?"  
  
"Are you starting to remember anything else?" Hiroshi asked her.  
  
Akane stared at him. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Hiroshi blinked at her uncertainly in the light of a nearby streetlamp. "It's. Nothing. It's nothing."  
  
Akane shrugged and the two of them resumed walking. Hiroshi snuck nervous glances at her. She waited patiently for him to continue.  
  
"A lot of things you've said and done in the past day or two have to do with Ranma in some way," Hiroshi finally said after two full minutes of silence. "Walking on that fence - even falling in the bay. Ranma used to fall in practically every day. Never stopped walking on the fence though." Hiroshi had a fond smile in his face. "The way you've started talking - even your silly jokes, they seem to have something to do with Ranma."  
  
Now it was Akane's turn to stop. "Hiroshi? I want to ask you something; and please be honest with me."  
  
He nodded, telling her to go on.  
  
"Were you in love with Ranma?"  
  
Hiroshi turned pale as a sheet. "W-what?"  
  
Akane shrugged. "I won't take it amiss if you say you were."  
  
"No, I'm shocked you'd even think - " He paused. "Ranma had a very nice body, but the way she behaved. most of her friends treated her like a guy. That's why I was so surprised. I was very. fond of Ranma. I liked Ranma, and we were friends. But that's it."  
  
Akane nodded, walking ahead again. "All right. But you admit she was pretty."  
  
"Sure. Everyone thought so."  
  
"Then why did everyone see her as a boy? You'd think no matter how she behaved, she couldn't help but pick up an admirer or two."  
  
Hiroshi appeared relieved. "Yeah, she did. Kuno was head over heels."  
  
Akane stared at him. "No way. But I thought he liked me!"  
  
Hiroshi chuckled. "He did. That's the funny part. He used to obsess over the two of you. "Akane. the pig-tailed girl." Hiro struck a funny pose. ".I shall have them both!!!"  
  
Akane doubled over with laughter. "Oh, geez. the funny thing is, I can really picture him doing that, too."  
  
"Genuinely delusional," Hiroshi agreed. "He'd fight you and Ranma every morning. Sometimes the two of you would plant a foot in his face at precisely the same moment; and it was poetry in motion, let me tell you. In fact, I think that happened the very first time Ranma went to school with you."  
  
Akane nodded; this sounded extremely familiar. Well, if it happened every day, it should. She looked up. "Well, this is my stop, Hiro."  
  
Hiroshi nodded. "I'll walk you to the door."  
  
Yuh oh. Is he expecting a kiss? I don't want to kiss him. but it's the first date. Isn't a little kiss traditional? Should we kiss.? Oh, geez. I guess. I guess if he moves on, I'll kiss him. But I won't be the one to make the move. Okay, so here's where I say, "I had a really nice time, tonight Hiroshi. Thanks very much."  
  
And here's where he says.  
  
"Don't worry about it. I had a great night too, and I like spending time with you. Here, I got you something."  
  
Akane blinked. This was a variation. She silently prayed it wasn't jewelry; that meant too much for a first date. But what he was handing her sure looked like a jewelry bow.  
  
She opened it.  
  
Well, it wasn't, quite.  
  
It was a watch, a relatively cheap one - for a watch. To replace the waterlogged one. She smiled; it was waterproof. What was more, it had a little duck and a little piglet painted on the inside.  
  
"Y'know, for the duck nameplate on your door, and for P-chan," Hiro pointed out needlessly.  
  
Akane giggled. The piglet really did look an awful lot like her pet pig. She frowned.  
  
"You. do you like it?" he asked hesitantly.  
  
Akane looked up to smile at him. "Yeah. It's really great. And thoughtful." Just like I suggested, you sneak, she thought affectionately.  
  
He smiled happily, and took her hand into his.  
  
Here it comes, Akane thought, and braced herself as he leaned closer to her. Se closed her eyes tightly shut.  
  
Nothing.  
  
Akane cracked one eye open, and then both eyes flew open in surprise. He was leaning over her wrist, fastening the watch on. She felt a sudden inexplicable surge of relief. She examined that feeling as Hiroshi fiddled with the fastening.  
  
It was almost like I was about to betray something very important. Suppose. suppose Ranma like Hiroshi? Doubtfully, Akane shook her head silently, dismissing that idea as incorrect. No. but them why.?  
  
Her thoughts were halted as Hiroshi rose. "There you go," he said, giving her his wry smile. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"  
  
Akane grinned, her feeling of relief and happiness almost overwhelming her.  
  
Hiroshi turned to go, but then took her hand again seemingly on impulse and raised it to his lips. Blushing madly, he kissed it.  
  
Then he turned again and walked off into the night. Akane gazed at her own hand like she'd never seen it before.  
  
I'm a sucker for chivalry. And I told him. Somehow, that didn't detract from her wonder and delight. Yeah. I'm a sucker, all right, she thought to herself. She giggled happily and let herself quietly inside the house.  
  
That night, Akane stared at the ceiling, feeling worse with every passing moment. She couldn't help but feel like she'd betrayed something extremely fundamental by going out with Hiroshi, much less letting him kiss any part of her. She'd. she'd dreamed of somebody else doing those things, she decided as she drifted off. Ranma should -  
  
RANMA?! Her eyes flew open.  
  
Ranma. That had been an honest-to-goodness thought, no matter how close to sleep she'd been. She sat straight up in bed, her blankets clutched protectively to her chest.  
  
Suppose. suppose Ranma and I. suppose. Akane wasn't even sure she could complete the thought, so she changed it to something less concrete. Suppose I felt uneasy because maybe I like. girls! 


	9. Chapter Nine

"Any idea why she's staring at me?" Sayuri wanted to know.  
  
Akane blushed and turned to face front, her eyes trained on the board, focusing on the algebra with burning cheeks.  
  
Hiroshi shrugged. Akane's behavior had been strange all day. Sayuri had told them she'd been especially odd during gym class. It's like she got embarrassed all of a sudden. She went into the bathroom to change.  
  
Akane wrote furiously, ignoring both of her friends in favor of her black- and-white notebook.  
  
After class, the two of them cornered her. "What's going on, Akane?" Sayuri demanded, hands on hips.  
  
"Yeah, 'Kane, give it up," Hiro told her with his patented half-smile. "Something's going on, and you promised to tell."  
  
"I what?" Akane exclaimed indignantly. "I never did!"  
  
"Yeah you did. If it has to do with Ranma, you promised me just last night you'd tell me stuff no matter how weird it seemed."  
  
Akane frowned at him, and opened her mouth to retort, but her protests died on her lips. "Alright," she said, bowing her head in acceptance. "But after school, okay? I don't think I could stand saying this in class, where just anybody could hear."  
  
Sayuri and Hiroshi exchanged a meaningful glance. Akane wished they'd stop doing that; it was like she wasn't there. "Okay," Sayuri replied, and Hiroshi nodded.  
  
That day at the ice cream parlor, Akane fiddled with her parfait, swirling its contents around lazily. "It's really weird. Sayuri, Hiroshi, you have to promise, on your honor, that you won't tell a soul about this."  
  
The two of them nodded. "Of course, Akane."  
  
"Well. okay." Akane took a deep breath. "Do either of you know if Ranma and I were. uhm, dating?" Akane had her eyes closed. She didn't want to see their looks of disgust.  
  
"Hey, you remembered that?" Sayuri wanted to know. Her voice was excited.  
  
Akane opened one eye.  
  
"Yeah, actually I guess you could say that the two of you were together," Hiroshi added casually.  
  
Akane stare at them both, totally incredulous. "Are you serious? And you two say it just like that?"  
  
Sayuri shrugged. "You two seemed against it, but your fathers really pushed you together. Still, no matter how hard you fought, you also seemed to like each other."  
  
Akane felt her jaw drop. "Our fathers?" she cried. "D-demo- "  
  
Hiroshi nodded resolutely to himself. "I think its time we showed you something," Hiroshi said. He stood leaving his parfait. "C'mon, Sayuri."  
  
Sayuri frowned at him, but rose as well, even though her ice cream was only half-finished. She didn't appear to know what Hiroshi was talking about, but as they walked, her expression grew grimmer. "Are you sure?" Don't you think we should ask Nabiki first?"  
  
"I think she's ready. Besides, if she doesn't see this, she's going to think we meant to lie to her -"  
  
Akane, who was trotting along behind them, started at this. "Lie to me? Hiroshi, Sayuri, what do you mean? About what?"  
  
Hiroshi stopped. "Here we are."  
  
Akane looked up at the gates beside the three of them, and shivered. "The graveyard?"  
  
To their left stood the giant iron gates to the Kamitenchi Graveyard, sprawling over the north part of Nerima. Akane shivered again. "Ranma's here?" she wondered quietly.  
  
Hiroshi gulped, and nodded.  
  
"Was I." Akane began, searching for words. "Was I there for her funeral?"  
  
The two teenagers shook their heads. "Like I said," Sayuri repeated sadly, "for the first week you were pretty shaken up."  
  
Akane snorted. "That's a nice way of putting it." She turned to her friends, who were staring at her with that look in their eyes. That look that said they were ever so sorry for her. "C'mon, let's get this over with," Akane demanded. "Let's go see whatever it is you want me to see."  
  
The three teenagers trailed into the graveyard and walked for a couple of tense, silent moments until they arrived at a gravesite with a great deal of flowers around it.  
  
~Saotome Ranma~ ~(1981-1998)~ ~Beloved Son~ ~Beloved Fiancé~ ~the best martial artist in all the world~  
  
Akane stared. "A boy? Ranma was a boy?! But. but, the pictures."  
  
Hiroshi shrugged at her. "It's such an outrageous story that nobody figured you'd believe it. You'll probably still think Sayuri and I are pulling your leg until you go confirm it with your family."  
  
"I. nobody said Ranma was a girl at first, I just assumed. I mean, why would a boy be staying with my sisters and I? That's so - " Akane turned white as a sheet. "Unless."  
  
Sayuri nodded at her. "That's right. Your fathers matched the two of you, and he came to live with your family. You were his fiancée."  
  
Akane sat down heavily on the grass as everyone's words came back to her. You fought like family, but you always stood up for each other.  
  
Gods. That's why she wanted to kiss Ranma. And that's why I felt like I was betraying something when I thought I was going to kiss Hiro! I was being unfaithful. to my fiancé!  
  
Who's. who's dead. Suddenly, it was like Ranma's death hit her all over again. There was a boy who she'd known and almost certainly loved, and she couldn't even remember who he was. It was terrible, unthinkable. She roused herself enough to ask one more question. "But then. who's the girl?"  
  
Hiroshi and Sayuri looked pained. "That, you're going to have some trouble with."  
  
I refuse to believe it. I refuse.  
  
"I'm serious, Akane," Nabiki was saying. "Look at them. Don't they look the same?" She was holding a picture of a redheaded girl in on hand, and a picture of a dark-haired boy in the other.  
  
Akane grimaced. "So do you and I, oneechan, but I don't turn into you with hot water." She examined the picture of the boy minutely. They looked almost exactly the same. One was justa red-headed girl. No. Way. No! No way!  
  
Nabiki sighed. "Oh, alright. I'll get the home video. You can see the change for yourself." She rose and walked from the room.  
  
Kasumi drifted into the room and sat on the couch silently. Soun appeared from outside, and sat down on the couch, too. Akane had the strange feeling that they had a longing to this other time, a longing for something she could no longer remember being a part of.  
  
Nabiki returned with the tape and placed it in the VCR. For a moment, there was nothing. Then.  
  
"Merry Christmas!" the voices cried.  
  
Sitting at the table was a young man, with a somewhat sheepish and confused expression. It looked right, on his face, as though he was used to being both sheepish and confused. That strange bald bespectacled man was sitting next to him, and Akane realized that they had to be related somehow.  
  
Then, she walked onto the screen. "Merry Christmas, Ranma," she said, strain in her voice.  
  
Akane stared, her eyes glued to the screen. This video was not jogging any memories, which made everything doubly strange. It was as though some strange double of herself had participated in these things rather than she herself.  
  
"Thanks, 'Kane," he replied.  
  
Akane blinked. He said her name just like Hiroshi did; Hiro must've picked it up from him.  
  
"I made you something," the television Akane informed him hopefully.  
  
Akane frowned. Made him something? Could. could I have gotten better at knitting, or. perhaps cooking? Or maybe -  
  
Ranma opened up a. something. A. scarf? It was practically unrecognizable, if it was a scarf. "Uh. thanks."  
  
"Ranma, show some more respect to your fiancée!" the bald man demanded.  
  
"What, old man? I said thanks, didn't I? What am I supposed to say? I don't even know what it is!"  
  
Akane's gaze smoldered. "It's a scarf, of course! Ranma no baka! And after I worked so hard on it."  
  
Ranma paused, looking a little guilty. "I shouldn't a' said that," he murmured under his breath. His face etched with remorse, he swung his large gray eyes Akane's way. "I got you something, too," he said, handing her a gift.  
  
Akane leaned towards Ranma.  
  
Akane leaned towards the screen.  
  
"It's. a cookbook?" The Akane on-screen looked puzzled.  
  
"Yeah, I figured you needed to improve your cookin' and all."  
  
This apparently was the last straw. "RANMA NO BAKA!" A ki mallet appeared in Akane's waiting grip and sent Ranma sailing through the air and into the koi pond near the dojo.  
  
Akane examine the tape. There was no static, no blinks, nothing to indicate the tape had been cut and pasted back together.  
  
And yet a redhead was emerging from the pond. "Aw, 'Kane, you know that won't make your cooking any better."  
  
Akane growled. "Come here and take your beating! I'm gonna get you Ranma!"  
  
The two chased each other around in a scene that bordered on comic.  
  
Nabiki hit stop, and Akane was thrown back into her own place and time. She felt numb, disbelieving, and yet somehow that scene had seemed normal to her. Normal but painful.  
  
Normal? And what does that make me?  
  
Soun was wailing. "Ohhh, for those days again.!"  
  
Akane blinked at him. "What are you talking about? We obviously hated one another!"  
  
Kasumi frowned at her little sister as much as it was possible for her to do so. "You and Ranma were deeply in love, Akane."  
  
"Even with the curse?"  
  
Nabiki looked back and forth between her sisters. "I wouldn't say madly in love, Akane, but you two certainly were devoted to one another. No matter what it looks like, when one of you got into trouble, the other would leap to defend. Sort of like brother and sister I guess, but you two also had your more romantic moments. And he obviously liked you a great deal, or he never would have agreed to take you to China with him."  
  
"China?" Something seemed very special about that place, as though the entire country was. magical? "Did Ranma get his curse there?"  
  
Nabiki, Kasumi, and Soun all turned to her and stared. Akane felt as though she'd been pinned to the floor by their gazes. "Yeah, Ranma got it there, in China, in a magical spring. I guess there's some stuff that you really do remember, huh, sis?" Nabiki grinned at her, her smile strained.  
  
Akane shrugged uncomfortably. "I guess. Listen, I have a lot of thinking to do. I'm gonna go for a walk, okay?"  
  
"That's fine," Kasumi replied. "Just be back before it gets too late, okay?"  
  
"All right, oneechan," Akane replied. "Don't worry about it."  
  
"I'm going upstairs to work," Nabiki told her family.  
  
Akane slipped out the door and began to walk down the street, her hands thrust into her pockets. The night was crisp and cool, and there was a nice wet breeze coming in from the south. It carried the promise of rain.  
  
"Excuse me, sir?"  
  
Akane turned.  
  
"I'm sorry - miss. Could you please tell me if this is Nagasaki?"  
  
"No, this is Tokyo."  
  
Quiet cursing could be heard. The dark figure in the street shook his head and turned to go.  
  
"Ryoga?" Akane took one step after him. "Don't you want to talk to me at least a little?"  
  
The figure froze. "Akane?"  
  
"I'm sorry; it's awfully dark. But yes, it's me." Akane jumped as Ryoga's hand swung around. For one terrifying moment she swore he was about to hit her; she remembered Ryoga's strength and knew that if he so much as backhanded her, she would be in deep trouble.  
  
Instead, he had grabbed the collar of her shirt and lifted easily, until her feet were a foot off the ground. His expression was truly murderous, and Akane blanched at the sight of his fangs. "Don't you dare," he hissed, his face inches from hers. "Don't you dare. You and I both know what you've done, so for God's sake let's not pretend."  
  
Akane blinked back tears. "R-Ryoga?" she whispered.  
  
A strange alteration came over his features and he let her go. She fell to the ground, her hands out behind her to support her as she landed. "Just get the hell away from me," Ryoga said, his voice completely and utterly devoid of all emotion. "Just please stay away."  
  
And then he was gone, like an apparition, off into the night. Gone like he'd never been. Akane briefly entertained the idea that she was going insane, but her bruises from the fall were all too real. A strange feeling settled over her. I did it, she thought dizzily. Ryoga has a crush on me. He'd only hate me so suddenly if I.  
  
If he thought I did it. I haven't done anything! Sure I argued with Ranma, but even Nabiki says we were in love. I. I would never really hurt somebody I loved.  
  
Would I? 


	10. Chapter Ten

Akane wandered the streets of Nerima, miserably kicking rocks and cans out of her way. When there wasn't a rock or can in her way, she kicked at the plain air. Her thoughts were running in circles. She wasn't capable of murdering someone, no matter how much she hated them. Or how much she loved them.  
  
Perhaps it was an accident that you covered up/  
  
No!  
  
Impossible.  
  
Akane paused. That thought had a 'wrong' feel, too. She had partaken in some sort of deception in regards to Ranma's death. She knew it the way she knew her own name.  
  
OH my god. Oh no. But. but just because I covered it up, or helped to cover it up doesn't mean anything! Maybe he committed suicide and I wanted to preserve his honor. That's not so bad - is it?  
  
Akane resumed walking, shaking her head and letting out a long, drawn-out sigh. It didn't matter what the truth was. No matter what, it was bad; her only concern was a matter of degree. How bad? Had she done it? Had she helped do it? Had she simply covered for the person who had done it? Or was she wrong about knowing anything important at all? Those were her concerns, but no matter what, the fact remained: Ranma, her fiancé whom she had loved, was dead and gone; and she could not even honor his memory properly. No matter what, things sucked, big-time.  
  
It began to rain. Not just gloomy mood-rain or fog, but rain, pelting cats- and-dogs rain. Akane ducked inside the overhang of a nearby restaurant, hoping to wait it out.  
  
The door to the restaurant opened with a friendly jingle. "Want to come inside?" the proprietor queried.  
  
"Would I ever!" Akane practically flew inside, then shook her hair violently.  
  
The proprietor blinked. He was now covered with droplets of water.  
  
"I'm so sorry! Gomen, let me get you a towel." Akane moved with confidence into the back. She wasn't worried about getting in anybody's way, as the restaurant was obviously closed. She fetched a towel immediately from the left cabinet.  
  
I've been here before. Akane froze, taking in her surroundings. In her memory, she had never been to this restaurant before. Come to think of it, this restaurant wasn't even here before my memory messed up. Akane emerged thoughtfully with the towel. "Ucchan?" she queried.  
  
The proprietor stared at her. "You remember me?"  
  
Akane laughed lightly. "It's on the sign out front."  
  
"Goodness! Right, 'Ucchan's'. How silly of me." The chef put one hand behind his head. "It's been awhile. I haven't seen you around."  
  
Akane shrugged. "I guess I don't hang out at the same places anymore, now that Ranma's gone." She frowned at the chef. There was something about him that she couldn't put her finger on.  
  
The chef shrugged. "Yeah." He grew immediately quiet.  
  
"So," Akane began, "were you friends with Ranma?"  
  
"We were engaged," he answered.  
  
Akane blinked, putting it all together: the long hair, the high voice, the slightly feminine gesture. "But we were engaged to be married," she protested.  
  
"Here we go again." Ucchan replied. She smiled companionably. "Of the fiancées, you and I were the most friendly with one another, though."  
  
"Of the fiancées?!" Akane cried. "You mean there were more?! Goodness, no wonder we argued. Ranma and me, I mean."  
  
"It wasn't exactly Ranma's fault," Ukyo began. "It was more his panda's father's."  
  
Akane's eyes widened as the chef launched into an explanation of Ranma's basic history. "It's like a fairy tale," she whispered.  
  
Ukyo nodded. "Yes, and you and I were caught up in it."  
  
Akane shook her head faintly to herself. "This is like a dream that I keep thinking can't possibly get any stranger. And yet, each time I think that, it manages to do so. Somehow."  
  
Ukyo's features were loose and happy, lost in the memories of some younger time. Then, she sobered. "Akane, do you remember anything that happened that first week you were back?"  
  
Akane desperately attempted to recall something - anything. All that she gleaned was the fact that Ukyo had to be referring to her trip to China with Ranma. "Not really," she admitted.  
  
Ukyo nodded to herself. "Listen, and listen carefully. Do you remember Ranma's dad?"  
  
Akane shook her head. "Been seeing pictures, though."  
  
"Be careful of him. You know, they only found your DNA near Ranma's body. In fact, it was all over his clothing. Well, hers, at the time. I think it's safe to say Genma blames you."  
  
Akane felt the tears coming again but held them back, and wondered how long she was going to be able to stay strong like this. "Ucchan, do you think." she looked up, desperate hope in her eyes. "Do you think I did something to Ranma?"  
  
Ukyo smiled. "Nobody's called me Ucchan in awhile, she said softly to herself. "Nope, sugar, I don't. Listen, Ranma had plenty of enemies." Her eyes narrowed. "Some of 'em had spells that could've killed him from a distance."  
  
Akane's eyes widened, but she wasn't about to ask Ukyo if she were pulling her leg. Not after seeing Ranma 'change' before her very eyes.  
  
"Some of them had wings, too," Ukyo continued, looking, if possible, even more deadly than before. "And those folk live in that area. They could have easily left no DNA behind. Just flung an arrow or a spear at him from the skies."  
  
Akane thought she might faint. "W-wings?" she stuttered.  
  
"Yes, wings. One of them almost killed you once. Ranma went nuts." Ukyo's eyes glazed over with uneasy memory. "He thought you were dead and just - bam. Killed their leader. They couldn't have been too happy with him."  
  
Akane was beginning to feel a little bit better. "So. anyone could have done it?"  
  
Ukyo nodded. "The Musk, the Amazons." her expression grew grim at the word, and Akane filed the group away in her mind. Ukyo obviously thought they'd done it. "Hell, even I could have." She smiled nervously. "And Ryoga, and Mousse, and. the boy just had a fistful of problems, you know?" Ukyo looked even more disturbed. "At first I formulated theories, but after six months I'm beginning to realize that any of them could be true. And any combination of them could be true. I just can't figure it out. But I ruled you out right away. Nobody gets that messed up from seeing somebody dead if they're the murderer. And you sure weren't faking."  
  
"No," Akane replied. "But do you know why Ranma and I went to China? Were we trying to cure his curse?"  
  
Ukyo titled her head. "That's the thing. I'm not quite sure. I think you two were training, but the thing was, Ranma didn't ever want to train you."  
  
"Didn't want to?" Akane frowned, confused. "Why not?"  
  
"He was afraid of hurting you. That's what it came down to," Ukyo replied. "Oh, he said it was because you were a weak girl and everything, but he never hesitated to fight me, or Kodachi, or Shampoo, although he fought us less had than he fought with boys." She shook her head. "He really cared for you, and didn't want to see you hurt, especially after the failed wedding."  
  
"The - what?" Akane demanded. "Wedding? Whose?!"  
  
"Yours and Ranma's," Ukyo replied. "Don't worry, it didn't happen - you're not a widow." Ukyo looked extraordinarily crestfallen. "I. Shampoo and I." She took a deep breath. "The wedding didn't pan out. But after that, Ranma said he was taking you on a training trip. Nobody believed him except you and Ryoga - everyone else seemed to think the two of you were off to get married someplace quiet."  
  
Akane's eyes widened. "So. good lord. You realize you're saying that I might be a widow? What if we did get married?"  
  
"No ring," Ukyo pointed out. "And there wasn't one on your finger when you came back either. Trust me - I found out. I had a personal interest in the matter."  
  
"Ucchan - there's this big hole in my life. I don't remember Ranma at all. I didn't remember you, though some stuff's coming back, now. What else might be missing?"  
  
Ukyo bit her lower lip and shook her head. "Sorry, sugar, that I can't answer. But if you have any questions that are a little more specific, you let me know."  
  
Akane recognized a dismissal when she heard one. "Thanks a lot, Ucchan. It's meant a lot to me to talk with you."  
  
"No problem. Drop by whenever you want to talk." Suddenly the teenager looked very weary. "I could use somebody to talk to, also."  
  
Akane nodded somberly, placing her hand over the chef's. "See you later."  
  
"Ja."  
  
Akane thought she heard someone weeping as she walked back out into the rain, but Ukyo had seemed so calm that she dismissed it as imagination. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Akane stared at the ceiling, watching the pattern her hand made across the wall.  
  
She had turned her bed lamp on when she'd realized she wasn't going to get any sleep that night. She'd attempted to re-read her collection of Inu- Yasha, but it all seemed way too gory to help her sleep.  
  
Now she had resorted to making funny shapes on the ceiling. Half asleep and half-awake, she thought of one thing.  
  
The murder.  
  
That was how she thought of it now. The murder. Because somebody as strong as Ranma didn't kick it just like that. And she now remembered his strength - a vague impression of practical invincibility. Ranma Saotome always wins. Or something like that. He had either been killed of had found some way to kill himself. The latter was seeming less and less likely, though. After all, she and Ryoga had been there, and possibly others. Even if Ranma had attempted a suicide, she or Ryoga or both of them would have rushed him off to a doctor. Unless there had been someone chasing them, keeping them from stopping anyplace.  
  
Akane frowned at the shadow of her hand. It looked like a bird.  
  
Like a phoenix.  
  
A phoenix? The Phoenix! Akane felt a wave of dread wash over her body, causing her to fling her arms around her shoulders and shake her head once, definite, abrupt.  
  
Something bad. Something very very bad. Something I shouldn't even think about -  
  
Akane nodded to herself. The Ph - that thing - they're important. Maybe responsible for this whole mess. Whatever a p. whatever that is. Maybe Nabiki knows.  
  
She curled into a ball on her bed, wrapping her arms around her knees, now. "I want to be whole, goddamn it," she whispered aloud, staring at the ceiling. She wondered if Ranma had felt like that with her - with his curse, always half of a person.  
  
The next morning, things went in a fashion that was becoming usual. She rose feeling as though she hadn't slept a wink, despite getting at least six hours. Dressed in that damned outfit that made it so indecent to kick Kuno's butt. Huffed downstairs, attempted to eat on a queasy stomach. Walked to school with Hiro, chatted. Wished to be able to walk on the fence, but was afraid for Hiro's heart. Kicked Kuno's butt - flashed populace. School.  
  
Today had a bit of difference, though. Akane had a mission.  
  
"I hear you sell information?"  
  
Nabiki spoke without turning. "Not at this moment, I'm afraid. One project taking up all of my attention."  
  
Akane tapped her older sister on the shoulder. "Not even for family?"  
  
The older girl whirled, blushing slightly. "What about, hon? You know, I give family discounts."  
  
"I want all you've got on the Amazons and somebody called the Phoenix."  
  
Nabiki's smile cracked, and she grabbed her little sister by her sleeve in an iron grip. "Come with me."  
  
"Eep!" Akane gave a token protest as her sister proceeded to drag her into the audio-video room.  
  
Nabiki peered out the door, looking nervous, before closing it tightly. "Listen, Akane, those are not names you just go and say out loud. You got me?"  
  
Akane frowned. "No."  
  
"Look. You have to have realized by now what my project is."  
  
"Who killed Ranma?" Akane answered.  
  
"No. That's NOT my project." Nabiki abruptly looked hunted before taking a deep breath and continuing. "Akane, sit down."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Just - SIT, okay?"  
  
Akane seated herself slowly and daintily, just to show it was all her own idea. She smoothed her skirt.  
  
Her mouth then proceeded to hit the floor as her older sister knelt in front of her and took her hands into her own. "I.am trying to protect your sanity." Nabiki's words were so forceful and plain that Akane reeled.  
  
"But oneechan. I have to know what happened! I'll never be normal again if I can't figure out." Akane stumbled verbally to a halt, surprised by her own words. She hadn't realized why she was so interested. She had thought it was to clear her name, to prove she wasn't a murderer. But it was truly because she needed those missing parts of her life to be complete. Otherwise she'd be like Ranma, with a foreign part of her concealed, one she might never see. She found herself in tears, and she put her head in her hands.  
  
"I think I understand," her sister replied, her voice stone. "So I'll tell you what my project is.  
  
"It's to clear you."  
  
Akane's tears stopped in utter shock, and her head swung up until she was gazing into her sister's eyes. Nabiki's own quest was to.?  
  
"I'll tell you the truth, Akane. It looks pretty damned bad. Ranma did have plenty of enemies, but it comes down to this: you were the only two people there. Your DNA and Ranma's DNA - was the only genetic material present. There's your DNA all over Ranma's clothing, like you punched him several times. Even a little bit of your blood."  
  
Akane was glad she was seated. She didn't think her legs would support her. She remembered her own words. Each time my life seems like it's gotten as weird as it can get. Had she jinxed herself?  
  
"I have a little deal with Sano-san, the police chief here in Nerima. I worked hard to get certain. pictures. As a result, he gave me several months to clear your name before he."  
  
Akane's world rocked again. Before he took me in. Kami-sama!  
  
"So I've given up everything else at your own suggestion, little sister. But nothing's worked. Sure, there are countless scenarios I've created based on the evidence in which you didn't commit murder. But none of them have any evidence to support them. All I've been able to do is create theories and rule some out. There are still practically infinite possibilities. It seems I'm no closer." Her head hung down. "Please forgive me - I'm doing my very best."  
  
"I believe you," Akane choked. "B-but. Ucchan said there was a group of winged people who hated Ranma -"  
  
"They're on the scenario list," Nabiki replied, her voice practically emotionless, soft. "First of all I'm not about to tell that to the police chief. I'd be locked up right after you-for insanity. We'd be some pair." She sighed. "Secondly, there were no arrows. No spears. Nothing to point to them or to the Amazons. I'm at a loss."  
  
Akane took a deep breath. "Perhaps Ryoga did it. I always thought they were friends, and perhaps Ranma did as well - but Ryoga tends to take things awfully seriously. And he was always shouting at him."  
  
"You remember that?" Nabiki queried, watching her closely.  
  
Akane nodded. "Sort of. Ranma tried to be nice to him, but they always ended up fighting anyway. Ranma thought teasing was friendly - Ryoga took it personally."  
  
Nabiki eyed her again, her surprise more obvious this time. "You seem to be pretty clear on that. As I recall, you used to yell at Ranma for picking on him."  
  
Akane blinked. "D-did I? Well, maybe things changed a little on our trip to China."  
  
Nabiki's eyes narrowed. "Ryoga was with the two of you?"  
  
Akane bit her lip, but she realized her sister wanted to help her, and to do that, she needed all the facts. Bracing herself, she explained what had happened during her encounter with Ryoga. "Ukyo also said Ryoga was the only one who believed Ranma had taken me to China to train. Everyone else thought we ran off to get married. I'm not sure if that helps," she added morosely.  
  
Nabiki sighed and shook her head. "It only makes it look worse, Akane."  
  
Akane slumped. "I know. D'you suppose he killed himself?" she finished.  
  
"No," Nabiki said, certainty in her voice. "He wasn't the type. Besides, how can you kill yourself with a ki attack?"  
  
Akane stared. "A ki attack killed him? But Nabiki, you know I can't perform one."  
  
Nabiki returned her stare with interest. "A-Akane? Don't you realize you performed one the other day? A Shi Shi Hokodan, if I'm not mistaken."  
  
Akane's eyes lit up. "That's proof Ryoga was there! I didn't know it when I left, did I?"  
  
Nabiki sighed, "Honey, you realize that is proof against you? Ryoga accused you to your face!"  
  
Akane grimaced. "But if he knew my head was messed up, he might have said that to make me think I did it."  
  
"Mind games? Ryoga?" Nabiki shrugged. "It's still worth considering. He may be more clever that we thought."  
  
A strange and disturbing thought crossed Akane's mind. "N-nabiki? How did you know he was killed by ki?"  
  
Nabiki stared at her blankly for a moment before responding, softly. "Autopsy report."  
  
"Oh, Nabiki!"  
  
Her older sister smiled through the obvious pain on her face. "It's okay. This is as much for my own peace of mind as it is to save you. Besides. I KNOW you're not a murderer."  
  
Akane wrapped her arms around her elder sister and wept. "Oneechan," she sobbed. "What if I am?"  
  
Akane sat perfectly still, her gaze resting expressionlessly on the board. The mathematical symbols had long since faded into incomprehensibility, a line here, a dot there. With no meaning. Sensei's words were meaningless syllables. Strung together, they made no sense.  
  
Like this whole business, Akane sighed, looking down at her notebook thoughtfully. Or am I just afraid it DOES? Face it, Akane. You had something to do with it.  
  
Akane attempted to imagine herself tall, cool and impassive, standing in front of a certain redhead. "You've made fun of me for the last time, Saotome Ranma," she would have said, her voice emotionless. "Now - taste your doom! An attack based on lack of culinary skills! BEHOLD!" A ki attack the size of Tokyo flew from her fingers to hit the martial artist square in the chest. Maniacal laughter abounded.  
  
No way in hell, she decided, a wry smile forming on her lips.  
  
She became slowly aware that Hiroshi was staring at her worriedly, and she offered up a cheery smile that fooled no one. She added a thumbs-up, just for good measure.  
  
Hiro stuck his tongue out and rolled his eyes, totally unconvinced.  
  
Yeah, yeah, Akane mouthed. But she forces her lips into a smile for his sake.  
  
The two of them walked home silently, Akane's gaze running every now and then to the fence above. "What's wrong?" Hiroshi had cornered her, without his female counterpart - Sayuri was home with a cold. "You've been moping all day."  
  
Akane sighed. "It's not moping."  
  
"You promised to tell," Hiroshi said gravely. "You swore. Would you soil your family honor?"  
  
Akane glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and saw his wide grin. "Impersonating Kuno doesn't become you." But, after a perfunctory pause, she told him about her encounter with her sister.  
  
Hiroshi was absolutely silent for a moment as well. He looked at her, gazing into her eyes. "You didn't do it, Akane."  
  
Akane blinked back tears. Hiroshi's guess about how she felt, coupled with that particular declaration, almost destroyed her then and there. As it was, several tears emerged and flew down her cheeks. "But-"  
  
"It doesn't matter what happened. I know you. And I know you couldn't hurt anybody that way." Hiroshi nodded resolutely to himself and took her hand in his.  
  
Akane smile at the contact, no longer feeling guilty. In fact, the contact warmed her immeasurably, more that she ever could have thought. It was kind of like that time out of Ryuganazawa, when Ranma had -  
  
She snatched her hand away. "I. I'm really sorry, Hiro-kun. Don't mind me, I'm really jumpy."  
  
Hiroshi looked a little disappointed, but he nodded understandingly. "Anybody'd be after today."  
  
"It's the whole damned week," she confessed, running a nervous hand through her short blue hair. "It's beginning to get to me, too. All these memories are surfacing, but they're out of context and in the end they don't tell me a thing."  
  
"I'm here," he told her softly.  
  
This time Akane put her own hand out to him and willed it to stay there. No matter what, Ranma had gone - she didn't have a fiancé anymore, and her honor shouldn't force her this way. And Hiroshi was awfully sweet, and funny, and cute. She liked him a lot.  
  
He smiled as her hand grasped for his.  
  
"And thank you for being here," Akane replied just as softly. The two of them were stopped now, holding hands and blushing mightily. Akane figured the heat from their faces might be enough to warm a small house in winter. Still they stood, looking uncertainly at one another.  
  
"Would it. would it be alright if I kissed you?" Hiroshi asked her.  
  
Akane smile. "On the hand?"  
  
"On the lips."  
  
Akane took a deep breath. "Yeah."  
  
He smiled back. "I love your way with words." He drew closer to Akane, suddenly looking terribly frightened by what they were about to do.  
  
Akane felt her own fear. He's not gonna, she thought desperately. And launched herself at the scared boy. Their lips locked briefly, then parted.  
  
Hiroshi stood blinking in the sunlight, looking dazed.  
  
"Well, that wasn't so bad," Akane conceded, putting her hands behind her back and winking at him coquettishly.  
  
Hiro snapped awake. "What, you thought it was gonna be bad?"  
  
"Well, boys are icky," Akane replied calmly, claiming his hand and continuing to walk home.  
  
"Good lord! I'm dating a forth-grader! Excuse me miss, but how old are you really? Officer, I swear, she said she was a high-schooler."  
  
"Shut up!" Akane growled, swatting him. "They are so icky. Would you want to kiss one?"  
  
Hiroshi considered. "You have me there."  
  
The rest of the walk was spent rather quietly. Akane was happy that she had a boyfriend, and had genuinely enjoyed their quick kiss, but it suffices to say she had other things on her mind. Hiroshi respected her silence, swinging his arm in hers every now and then before grinning at her. She grinned back, doing her best to keep her present happiness in her mind, and ward the nightmares away. They hovered at the edge of her mind, waiting to be let in. For the moment being, she refused to let them.  
  
"Hiro." Akane began delicately as they reached the door of the Tendo enclosure. "I've been thinking. Maybe it's best we not see one another."  
  
Hiroshi's expression fell, but he couldn't resist throwing a jibe in. "I'm that bad a kisser, huh?"  
  
Akane giggled in spite of herself. If she were still playing, she'd say '.average', and then look to the skies in perfect innocence. "I'm serious, Hiro," she replied instead. "Things are weird right now. Your girlfriend might go to jail." There was an almost inconsequential pause before Akane added, "she might also go insane again when she remembers what happened to her ex-fiancé."  
  
Hiroshi opened his mouth to protest, but Akane hushed him before he could speak.  
  
"If we... uhm, stayed together." Akane was not willing to say the 'm' word before the second date. "If we did. in twenty years I could remember, and go nuts."  
  
Hiro shook his head. "Like I told you before, 'Kane, it's impossible. Your mind will let you remember if and when you're capable of dealing with it. As far as murder. I know you didn't do it, and I have faith in the justice system." He winked. "And, in Nabiki's 'gifts' even more. Stop worrying. I'm not about to give you up because you're going through something hard. In fact, it's all the more reason I should stick by you."  
  
Akane blinked rapidly. "You don't mean it. Really think, Hiro."  
  
"What, you don't think I've got a brain? I thought of all of this before, and I still want you." He blushed. "I mean. wanted to ask you out."  
  
Akane smiled. "I'm touched, and I ain't just saying that." She frowned. "Oooh, 'language, Akane!" she said in her best Kasumi voice.  
  
Hiro chuckled. "I guess I'll see you later, then?"  
  
Akane blinked up at him. Aren't you going to ask me on another date, then? Say, a movie this weekend?"  
  
Hiro laughed again. "Do I get a choice?"  
  
"Nope. You're coming with me." Akane tugged possessively on the material of his shirtsleeve, still smiling up at him.  
  
They came together once more, far more naturally this time. The kiss was long and sweet. Akane felt herself protected, loved unconditionally. She sighed contentedly as she broke it off. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, okay?"  
  
Hiroshi nodded, as though unable to speak. When she was up in her room five minutes later, she looked out the window to find him still standing there, a blissful expression on his face.  
  
That night, as Akane stared at the ceiling once more - she was becoming awfully familiar with the pattern of paint, and had made personal friends with the waterspot a couple of inches to the left of the headboard - she pondered her situation once more. There was no way she'd done it, she decided. Her family believed in her, and so did Sayuri and Hiroshi.  
  
And she believed in herself. She was a good person, dammit, somebody who wouldn't hurt a fly.  
  
Unless it was really bothersome, of course.  
  
Her thoughts wandered briefly to Hiroshi again, to his arms around her, to his lips on hers, to his hands. She thought she liked his hands best. They were never sweaty like those guys at school, and he wasn't grabby. He had - quick hands. Hands like a violinist or a locksmith might have. Nimble, cool, and clever. A sure sign you've fallen for someone, she thought to herself sleepily. You start focusing on their hands, or their toenails, or the way they whistle. She smiled, her eyes closed, as she naughtily wondered how, perhaps, Hiro might be in other areas. Like.  
  
Like a sudden noise downstairs.  
  
No, that wasn't it. Akane mumbled to herself, nearly asleep, before sitting up like a shot.  
  
A sudden noise. Her hands fumbled for her bokken silently, her breath coming in quick spurts, short gasps. Nabiki got up for a drink of water, she told herself. Just somebody getting some water. She repeated it like a mantra, but she knew the footfalls were too heavy to be from either one of her sisters, and that it took nuclear war to wake her father.  
  
The steps were coming closer. Her door flew open.  
  
A man in a white gi stood there. At least, his gi had once been white. It was stained, as though from a great deal of travel. "I'm going to kill you," he said calmly.  
  
It was the last thing Akane heard for awhile. 


	12. Chapter Twelve

AKANE by Kirinin  
  
Disclaimer: Once again, Rumiko-san did this and not me. Well, er, she invented... uh... you know the drill.  
  
CHAPTER TWELVE  
  
Blurriness. Where...? Black.  
  
Color. Light. Afterimages in the light. Even though she turned her head, the objects bouncing around her stayed where they were for a half moment before following her own movements. Drugs? she wondered.  
  
Black.  
  
Akane fully woke with a buzzing in her brain like the mother of all hangovers. She still managed to suppress a groan and stop her eyes from instinctively flying open at the rough feel of ropes around her ankles and wrists. She wanted to be more aware of her surroundings before she made a move.  
  
Drip-drip. Drip-drip. Water. There was water nearby. Sewer? Spring?  
  
Leaky sink? Akane suppressed a sigh.  
  
Drip-drip. Drip-drip. Cold. It was freezing, actually. Only the stupid panda would be able to hold out this long without breaking into shivers.  
  
Panda?  
  
Never mind what Ucchan said! Focus!  
  
Akane forced her reluctant brain into action. Water, cold. She sniffed the air: metallic. Wind, off to her right. Strong wind, only from one direction.  
  
Tunnel. Air smelled fresh, so not a sewer. A cave?  
  
"I can tell you're awake. The rhythm of your breathing is different."  
  
Akane hesitantly opened her eyes to view her captor. He was a tall, bespectacled man, a little flabby around the edges but looking as though he'd lost a lot of weight very recently. He wore a frightening scowl.  
  
Pop... pop. Somebody's dad.  
  
Ranma's dad. Ranma's father, from the picture. "You look so different!" she blurted.  
  
His expression darkened, hardened. "Losing your only son to murder changes a man."  
  
Akane bit her lip while she stared, suddenly feeling for him despite his menace. "I'm so sorry."  
  
Now his features contorted into rage and he growled at her, rushing her, holding her up by her collar far into the air-and she felt his anger and it was worse than Ryoga's, ten times worse, and-oh-god-he-thought-she'd-done- it. Akane closed her eyes and tilted her head away from him, bracing for impact.  
  
Bracing wasn't enough, Akane decided as she flew through the air, banging her head sharply on the rocks behind her.  
  
"Sorry? You're SORRY?!" he demanded, a hiss in his voice that ended suspiciously in a catch. "You murder my only son, tell everyone you can't remember doing it, and then you say you're SORRY?!"  
  
Akane's heart pounded wildly, but at the same time she felt the urge to leap to her own defense. "I didn't kill him old man," she growled back. "So lay off!"  
  
He froze, an incandescent fury taking hold of him. "DON'T TALK LIKE HIM!!! YOU MURDERED HIM YOU STUPID-" he suddenly choked on his own words, slamming her once again into the wall behind her.  
  
Akane was seeing stars-yet her head felt strangely clear. Genma was this man's name. How could she not have remembered the father of her fiancé? She frowned at him, confused for a moment as a black haze briefly overwhelmed her. Something having to do with... cats.  
  
Cats? But-  
  
FOCUS! her mind demanded, bringing her attention back to the man facing her.  
  
I have to do better than insult him. I have to... think like Nabiki. "Don't you think my father might be upset if he finds out what happened here? What you're accusing me of?" Akane demanded in a much more calm tone. Sounding panicky would only get her into worse trouble-though admittedly trouble worse than this would be hard to find.  
  
Genma shook his head angrily. "I don't care what he thinks. His family has betrayed mine, and I plan on taking a life for a life. But first-" He cracked his knuckles menacingly. "I want you to tell me exactly how you did it. I want to know what you did. I want to know how a third-rate martial artist like you defeated MY SON!"  
  
Akane's lips twisted. "I don't remember, but I know I DIDN'T! LET ME GO!"  
  
Genma smiled at her, a nasty, slow smile that spread across his face like a cancer. "I was hoping you were going to say that," he said. It was like something out of a bad movie, Akane thought. Except, the fact was, he... meant it.  
  
He'd torture her and enjoy hearing her scream.  
  
Akane racked her brains. If there was any time to be calm, rational, and smart, now was that time. It seemed to make him angry when she spoke like Ranma. Fine, then. "Well, old man, are you gonna give me a chance like a martial artist, or are you really as pathetic as you seem?" Genma blinked at her, a bit surprised by her change in tack.  
  
"You're talking about honor. That word doesn't exist for me anymore, little girl. It barely did while Ranma was alive, and his death swept it clean out of me."  
  
Akane gulped, but she pasted a brave, cocky expression across her face. "What? Too slow? Gotten too fat, panda? Too fat to fight me for real?"  
  
Genma grimaced, but Akane could see it wasn't going to be enough.  
  
"Besides," she added slyly in sudden inspiration, "won't it be more fun to take me apart bit by bit?"  
  
That did it. The older martial artist growled and ripped her ropes from her wrists and ankles, leaving raw marks. Akane rubbed at them, buying herself some time. She just needed to move the fight outside of the cave, then employ the Saotome secret technique.  
  
Her only concern was surviving that long.  
  
Ranma's father had often appeared to be weaker than his son, but Akane's memories told her that the surface did not betray the reality. Every now and then, Genma would reveal something totally new in his formidable arsenal, which indicated he'd often held back while fighting his son. In addition, this Genma was not the fat, lazy layabout she remembered. This man was leaner, stronger... angrier. She was willing to bet he's picked up some new techniques, sure as the sun rose in the morning.  
  
There was nothing for it, though. She had no choice.  
  
Akane stood carefully, falling into an average kempo stance, watching Genma slip into Anything Goes. Before Akane knew it, she was adjusting in a way foreign to her, and planning his next several moves in her head. She faltered, blinking down at her own body-  
  
And Genma attacked.  
  
He was faster. It was all Akane could do to weave around his strikes. She still couldn't manage to move outside. She needed to be outside in order to fight, as well as to escape.  
  
Then, to her surprise, she found Genma was moving the fight for her. A relatively simple strike with his left leg out straight, a move that she probably could have blocked, herded her towards the cave mouth. She leapt backwards, allowing herself to be moved outside, wondering why the other martial artist was attacking in a manner so in conjunction with her wishes for flight.  
  
The cave opened onto a grassy plain totally unfamiliar to Akane, but she saw mountains in the background and prayed they weren't in China. Genma probably thought it would be poetic justice if she died where Ranma had, she decided grimly.  
  
It was then that she found out why Genma had moved their battle. The martial artist launched himself high into the air with a cry, his flight seemingly effortless, a foot extended towards her.  
  
Part of Akane's mind froze in sheer terror. The other part deflected Genma's kick with her left arm and used her right to punch him as he passed her.  
  
"You're never going to win that way, stupid girl," he hissed as she landed, clutching his stomach in pain. "In an aerial battle, the one in the air wins. Plain and simple."  
  
"I guess we'll see about that," she replied evenly, thinking, I can do this I can keep grabbing him out of the air, I can do it, I can beat him! A cocky smile flickered over her features. "Just try it, old man!" she cried, remembering her original tactic of trying to sound like her former fiancé.  
  
Genma gave an inarticulate howl of rage before rushing her once more, his hands blurring. He didn't have to yell anything concerning chestnuts, but his technique was obvious.  
  
Akane fell under his onslaught, taking several hard hits on her shoulders and around her breasts. She fell back, breathing labored. "Not bad, for a panda," she wheezed appreciatively.  
  
"Not bad for a spoiled princess freak!" he replied, wiping blood from his lip. For a moment, they faced one another in silent appraisal.  
  
"How'd you get so good so fast?" he wanted to know as he began circling her again.  
  
Akane nodded once, to herself. "Guess Ranma must have taught me all of this."  
  
"And you used it to kill him," Genma spat.  
  
"Not true, you bastard-!"  
  
"Why don't you just shut up and DIE!!!" Genma screamed as a ki blast flew out of his hands, hitting Akane in the chest and causing her to fly backwards.  
  
Akane blinked, shaking her head free of cobwebs. That was the second special attack he'd done, and she didn't even know what he'd thrown this time. Damn him! She hadn't even been able to tell he'd been building up his ki! Shakily she stood. I can't die now. Things are just beginning to work out okay. I have friends now, even a boyfriend. My family, and my schoolwork, and college someday. "There's no way I'm gonna lose!" she proclaimed. "MOUKO TAKABISHYA!!!" she screamed, her hands extended.  
  
A small blast hit Genma and sent him sprawling.  
  
Akane was looking at her own hands, stricken. "N-no," she whispered. She could hear Nabiki's voice. "He was killed using a ki attack..."  
  
Meanwhile, Genma was recovering. "He taught you everything he knew... how could you do it? How could you kill him?!"  
  
"STUPID. OLD. MAN," Akane shouted across the distance, her hands clenched and tears in her eyes. "I didn't goddamn kill him! I LOVED RANMA!!!"  
  
The two of them stood facing one another, ten meters apart, each one again assessing the skills of the other. Both were breathing heavily, but Akane knew she was hurting more. She also had no idea about her ki reserves, but felt tired, exhausted. She could scarcely keep upright. Genma, on the other hand, looked like he was just getting warmed up. He smiled even though blood ran from his lip and also down his right cheek. "I want to know," he repeated, "why you did it."  
  
Akane started to cry. Genma's certainty was getting to her. "I'm sorry! I just don't know! I don't know what happened!"  
  
Genma reassessed her quietly. "Maybe not," he conceded. "But it doesn't change what you did." His expression was icy now, all of his anger gone- replaced with determination. "I will kill you for it."  
  
Akane's lips thinned. "TENDO SECRET TECHNIQUE!" she screamed.  
  
And ran.  
  
She ran for miles, her legs numb. She ran, directionless, until a root tripped her, twisting her ankle. Akane fell with a cry, landing so that half of her body hung out over a sheer rock face. She sat up and peered down, spying what she knew had to be Jhusenkyo. The forest had been so dark and deep and she'd been running so fast, that if she hadn't tripped...  
  
Then, like Ryoga, she would have fallen. Fallen into one of the springs.  
  
It was only just, she decided, putting her head into her hands. She deserved to fall in, maybe into Spring of Drowned Flea. She sighed. That was too easy. What she really deserved was to die.  
  
Akane scooted closer to the edge, peering down at the springs below. If she aimed properly, she might hit the ground. She sighed and shook her head-there were too many people waiting for her at home. She couldn't be so selfish.  
  
From her vantage point, Akane could see for quite aways-a mile, she estimated, all around. There was a small blackened spot down below, west of Jhusenkyo. A blackened spot like one made by a ki attack.  
  
It happened right there, she thought, and with sudden clarity. The... the murder.  
  
Akane's lips firmed. She looked behind her, and strained to hear any sounds of pursuit. She had probably lost Genma. The underbrush was so thick behind her that she, still quite a bit smaller despite Genma's weight loss, had a distinct advantage. She could probably head back the way she'd come and climb safely down. Still, she deliberated, wasting precious seconds. What did she really hope to accomplish by going down there? Did she think it was all going to come back to her in one miraculous rush if she viewed the place? She could see it from here, after all. It was a faint hope, but any hope was better than none.  
  
Akane walked twenty minutes, still limping slightly, before reaching the seared bit of earth. By all rights, grass should have grown over the area so many months after the-the death. Yet it, too, remained lifeless.  
  
Akane knelt painfully and ran her fingers across the dark, withered grasses, the parched soil, before wetting it with her tears.  
  
Here, and yet no closer. Damn it.  
  
"Hey."  
  
Akane stood and whirled, her hand at her throat, before swaying and almost swooning. "R-Ryoga!" she exclaimed, not sure whether she should be terrified or relieved. The martial artist had a black gaze on her. His hands were stuck in his pockets, though, and he didn't appear ready to attack her.  
  
Ryoga's eyes swung sadly to the burnt earth. "No matter where I go, I end up coming right back," he said to the ground, his voice haunted. "Like something's pulling me."  
  
Akane blinked her tears away. "Maybe it's pulling the both of us. Genma dragged me here, but I found this place without him." She ran her fingers through the blackened soil sadly.  
  
Ryoga knelt next to her. "I shouldn't have done that to you, before. The both of us did what seemed best to our honor at the time. I... I can't blame you... for your... decision." This last statement seemed forced out of him as if by a herculean effort.  
  
Akane shook her head, tears still flowing-she couldn't help it. "Nothing makes sense, damn it! I don't understand!!!"  
  
Ryoga shook his head, seemingly at a loss as to what to say to her. "You're wounded-what happened? Run into the Musk? The Amazons?" He chuckled grimly. "Though it's no more than you deserve, I suppose."  
  
Akane whirled from some instinct raised to light only recently, and saw a flash of white not too far behind them, already past the springs. "Genma- he's coming! He thinks I killed-"  
  
Ryoga frowned. "But-"  
  
"Help me out," Akane begged, leaning close. "I know you're upset with me, but please! I don't think I can handle him any longer. I'm amazed that I held out as long as I did." Her eyes shifted briefly to the approaching martial artist.  
  
Ryoga growled, then pushed her away. "Stop that! I told you the last time that I hate it when you act like that!"  
  
"Act like what? Ryoga, c'mon... you hoist me into the air after not seeing me for months, and then you expect me to know what you're pissed off about this time." Akane's tears were gone, now, replaced with a familiar frustration. Genma would reach them any second, and Ryoga wanted to argue!  
  
Ryoga snorted. "What do you think? I know what you did." He shook his head, correcting himself. "What we did."  
  
"WHAT DID WE DO?" Akane howled, but then Genma was upon them, fighting like a demon, and Ryoga was fighting alongside her, although pretty half- heartedly for one of the best martial artists in the world, he didn't want to protect her anymore, didn't like her anymore, but that was okay 'cause stupid P-chan couldn't find his ass with both hands, and at least he was helping, and-  
  
Akane kept her thoughts on inconsequentials, letting her body think for itself. Her body-her body remembered how to do all of Ranma's moves. Her mind did not. Best to keep the brain occupied with other things. Best not to think she was using Anything Goes on one of its original students. On somebody who would have been her dad if the wedding had panned out.  
  
With Ryoga's help, Akane slowly wore the old martial artist down. Kick- jab, dodge-sweep, they took him slowly. Akane feared it would be too slow; revenge seemed to afford Genma plentiful reserves. He wasn't gonna go down easy.  
  
"Shi Shi Hokodan!!!" Ryoga cried.  
  
"Mouko Takabishya!" Akane added, but this was her last attack, and she knew it. She felt herself collapse, fall to her knees, as Ryoga executed a finisher.  
  
"I suppose you're going to kill me, now, too," Genma whispered, his voice incredibly weighted down by his weariness.  
  
Akane was too exhausted to respond.  
  
"No," Ryoga replied for her. "We aren't in the business of killing people, Saotome-san. It was strictly an accident."  
  
Akane felt something shatter deep inside her just before she passed out.  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
Aiyah. She did it after all. If there are those of you out there who wish to kill me, or who are wondering if this is the last installment, it is not. Do you really think I'd leave you there?  
  
As for those of you who are wondering why in heaven's name this chapter is coming out so much later than the others, I must apologize and make my excuses. I'm a college student and have all the problems associated with being a college student; that is, I have endless assignments and extremely exhausting family obligations. In fact, I should be calling my mother and doing my Statistics homework simultaneously right this very moment.  
  
The other reason that this bit is coming so late is that somebody else was retyping this story for me. I was appreciative, but there were lots of spelling/grammar errors and sometimes even sentences left out of the story. I reclaimed the original...  
  
And proceeded to do absolutely nothing with it for ages. Gomen nasai!  
  
Please send non-hate mail to Kirinin@aol.com 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

AKANE by Kirinin  
  
Disclaimer: Today's chapter has been brought to you by the suffix 'ing', as in stealing, and copying... but also forgiving, and not suing...?  
  
CHAPTER THIRTEEN  
  
Akane woke sobbing. "We... we did it... Ryoga... we killed..."  
  
"Stop that," Ryoga demanded harshly. "You know it was an accident, okay? We didn't mean to. Besides, you paid for it and then some."  
  
A muffled groan brought Saotome Genma to Akane's attention. He was hogtied and sprawled out across the grass, kicking futilely. There was a small campfire near the older man, which Ryoga had built to ward off the gathering darkness. The black spot of earth was visible, but Ryoga had set up camp several meters away from it.  
  
Akane sniffled, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I thought for sure I wouldn't cover something up like this..."  
  
"Thought you wouldn't? What do you mean?" Ryoga demanded.  
  
Akane shivered to herself as she realized what important piece of information was missing, from Ryoga's point of view. "R-Ryoga... I haven't been able to remember. I didn't know what had happened. All this time I was trying to figure it out... but I was sure I hadn't done anything really wrong..." She sniffed again, despondent.  
  
Ryoga didn't respond. He walked over to the campfire and poked it with a stick, watching as the ash drifted downwards into the heart of the flames. "Well, now you know," he finally replied softly. He sat heavily. "What you don't know is just how much I loved her. It was obvious I had a crush, but..." He shrugged, a blank look settling across his features. "I was a fool, waiting so long to say anything. And now it's too late."  
  
Genma squirmed and generally looked as incredulous as Akane felt. "Huh?" she managed.  
  
Ryoga glared at her. "Look, I know she was your fiancée, but you've always known I had a thing for her."  
  
Akane shook her head. "B-but... Ranma's a boy!" she exclaimed.  
  
"What do you mean, 'Ranma' is a boy? Of course 'Ranma's a boy. Or was," Ryoga replied warily.  
  
Akane blinked. "I... just didn't know... Well, never mind." She stared into the fire and hoped the blush on her cheeks would be mistaken for firelight.  
  
Ryoga eyed her curiously for a moment before settling himself more comfortably in front of the fire, stretching out his legs. "I still don't really understand why he's after you," Ryoga said casually, gesturing towards the bound martial artist with a tight nod.  
  
Akane and Genma once again exchanged a glance in spite of themselves. Akane wasn't even sure she could manage a 'huh' this time. Ryoga shrugged. "I thought you said you were going to tell your father what happened."  
  
Akane frowned, confused. What did her father have to do with this? "'Tell him what'..." she echoed, puzzled. "You know I don't remember what happened, Ryoga. I just told you that."  
  
"Don't remember? How could you not-" Ryoga's voice dropped off into silence, and he turned towards her, his eyes wide and wild. "Don't... remember... anything... about what happened?"  
  
Akane blinked at him hesitantly as a faint aura flew up around him. "N- no... R-Ryoga... is it... I mean... are you okay?"  
  
"Akane?"  
  
"Yes?" Akane replied timidly.  
  
Ryoga seemed to deflate; then he put his head in his hands and began to laugh. He kept laughing and laughing, his shoulders shaking silently while Akane and Genma looked worriedly on.  
  
Akane shivered. "Ryoga? Ryoga! Stop it! Stop that, you're scaring me!!!"  
  
Ryoga's laughter cut off abruptly, but when he turned to face her, his chuckles began again. "It's... too... funny..." he wheezed, but he didn't sound amused. He sounded like he was going to throw up.  
  
Akane's hand flew back and she slapped him, hard. "Snap out of it, P- chan!" she demanded fiercely. "If you don't tell me what the hell is going on here, I'm gonna..."  
  
Ryoga blinked at her, and Akane gasped.  
  
He was crying.  
  
He was crying. Twin tracks of tears streaked his cheeks. "You called me P- chan," he whispered.  
  
Akane sat down heavily in front of him, her legs feeling as though they'd been swept out from underneath her. "If it makes you cry, I won't do it again," she replied softly.  
  
"Oh god. Oh, god," Ryoga mumbled softly to himself. He looked at Genma in sudden surprise. "And he doesn't know, either! He... thinks... you... killed Ranma..." Ryoga began to laugh again.  
  
Akane shook him. "I didn't?!"  
  
Ryoga shook his head, still giggling helplessly. "Nobody... killed.. Ranma..."  
  
Akane gulped for air. "Ranma's alive...?" she demanded, shaking him some more.  
  
Ryoga nodded.  
  
"But... you said... we'd had an accident... and the burned earth..."  
  
The change that occurred on the lost boy's face was practically scary-from a mirthfully savage bitterness to tears, all in a moment. "Ranma didn't die," he repeated.  
  
"But somebody else did," Akane breathed. "Who?" She racked her brains for who she hadn't seen in Nerima lately. "One of the Amazons? Happousai?"  
  
Ryoga seized Akane by her upper arms and gazed blazingly into her eyes. With each word he shuddered. "Stop. Playing. Games. This isn't fair."  
  
Akane blinked. "What?"  
  
"You know Akane died!" Ryoga was blubbering now, crying into her shoulder like a lost child, his hands still gripping her for dear life. "She got in the way of that blast... there was nothing we could do..."  
  
Akane felt tears well up in her own eyes as a shiver ran up her spine. "But Ryoga... I'm Akane. Ranma's dead. Remember?" she prodded gently. "I'm right here!"  
  
He pulled away, some of the old ferocity back in his eyes; but his voice was soft and broken. "You really think you're her, don't you?" he whimpered softly. "This is... too far for a joke, even for you..." It was the last thing he said before he was knocked unconscious.  
  
Genma stood above Akane, loomed. His hands were blistered and reddened; with a flash of understanding, Akane realized he must have burned his ropes away. "Cute," he growled, "but I won't fall for it."  
  
Akane was about to explain that Ryoga had simply fallen off the deep end when the martial artist attacked. Once again it was all she could do to fend him off, especially in her weakened state. The man had a seemingly infinite capacity for punishment, she reflected as she dodged a sloppy punch. They were both tired, and Akane wasn't sure how much longer she could stay upright, much less dodge and weave.  
  
"Tell me why!" Genma demanded as they circled. "It's a simple question!"  
  
Akane didn't have it in her to scream back. She replied in a soft, defeated voice. "You heard Ryoga. It was an accident. It's driven him crazy and brought me close. We didn't mean to do it! Please, just stop!"  
  
"Admit it's your fault-admit you killed him!" Genma leapt towards her, descending on her from above. It was harder, now. She couldn't see him from above, not in the darkness.  
  
He was right. The aerialist always won the fight, she reflected as she landed heavily several meters away.  
  
For the second time that night, Akane felt so emotionally and physically exhausted that she was at her breaking point. "FINE!" she screamed from her position on the ground. "YOU WANT TO HEAR ME ADMIT IT?! I DID IT, OKAY? I MURDERED HER! I DIDN'T MEAN TO, BUT IT WAS STILL ALL MY FAULT! AND I LOVED HER-DESPITE WHAT I SAID TO HER ALL THE TIME!" Akane broke off to take another breath, feeling weak and slightly dizzy. "When... when she stuck her hand out and asked if she wanted to be friends, I thought my troubles were over. But no! YOU had to ENGAGE ME TO FOUR WOMEN and make her HATE ME UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE!!!!!"  
  
Genma stood staring at her blankly, his stance wide open. He stood completely still and completely silent.  
  
Akane felt her heart speed-felt her breathing heave in sharp, light breaths. Felt the world fuzz around her. Felt Genma's hand on her arm.  
  
"Ranma?" he asked quietly.  
  
"W-what?" Akane blinked, shaking her head. "No..." She felt her body finally give up, the way it had been wanting to for the past eight hours or so, and she slumped against Genma's arm. "Dad?" she asked in a small voice. Her eyelids fluttered and shut.  
  
Genma stared at her crumpled form blankly for a moment before drawing her in. "Son... what's happened to you?"  
There was a brief time in which Akane stared over the cliffs towards the rising sun. The light washed everything away. The light should have washed everything away.  
  
Should have washed Ranma away.  
  
Wasn't that what she'd wanted? To drown herself in Akane, to kill Ranma in retribution for being so goddamned careless, so incredibly reckless? She'd been angry with the stupid tomboy for being in the way for all of a moment before she'd realized Akane wasn't getting up again.  
  
Would never get up again.  
  
Ryoga was like a real lost soul for a while. Wouldn't eat. Wouldn't sleep. It was his Shi Shi Hokodan, after all, that had ended her life. But Ranma had known deep down that it was his own fault. It was his job to protect her. How many times had he failed? She couldn't even remember what they'd been fighting over, now. Something stupid, of course.  
  
He could have kicked himself at their wedding. After all those times Akane had begged him to train her, after she'd demanded and pleaded by turns for the better part of a year, he had still refused. And then her lack of sufficient training had almost killed her, that day. He should have always known that being around dangerous martial artists put her in a dangerous position, he'd decreed, and the pair had set off for China to train, far away from prying eyes. Ryoga either popped up the way he often did, or had been following them all along.  
  
How many times had he swept her away from danger, only to have her impatient glare demand what had taken him so long? And yet, the moment it mattered, he hadn't been paying attention-and her life was the price of his carelessness. Just one moment-and three lives went up in smoke.  
  
Only, he knew the solution. It took him awhile to figure out, to understand. And then...  
  
"Where are you taking her?" Ryoga demanded, roused for the first time since the initial disaster.  
  
"The Naniichuan," Ranma replied, determination in his voice. "To do an experiment."  
  
Ryoga ran at him, not understanding the plan. But he managed to dunk Akane... no, the body... into the spring. His spring.  
  
A redhead had popped out. A drenched redhead in Akane's clothing, but it would have to do.  
  
The gears in Ryoga's mind had begun working, then, and he'd simply waited. Yet when Ranma had walked towards the Akaneniichuan, Ryoga had held him back, demanding an explanation.  
  
It's simple, Ranma'd said to him calmly. We killed Akane. I wasn't taking care of her. I can't face her family and mine bringing a dead body home with me.  
  
Ranma fixed things the only way he knew how. Without a second thought he abandoned the manhood he prized so highly and dunked himself in the Akane spring.  
  
The memories assaulted her, warred with her own until she found herself unable to tell what was the past and what was the present. Akane's mother. My mother. Akane's first day of school. My first time in kindergarten. These memories were safe, were solid. Yet the first time Ranma had met Akane... was a blur. A blur of conflicting images, a blur of conflicting thoughts, and a blur of conflicting positions, which translated into an incomprehensible white noise. Ranma had known that it was a mindspring, one that invariably caused a change in personality, like the spring of drowned priest. Ryoga had not.  
  
She hadn't given a damn about that at the time. She demanded, while she was still in a position to demand, that Ryoga find a way to lock the curse and that he refer to her as Akane from then on. Ryoga had agreed, burning with his own shame. Together, they found the ladle, stole it from the Musk, and used it. Ryoga noticed her behavior becoming more and more disturbed, but he probably had assumed she was being eaten alive with guilt, rather than losing herself moment by moment.  
  
And then one day she'd woken up-a week after she'd gotten home, to be precise-with no conflicting memories, no white noise. No conflicting emotions. Her mind had not been able to handle the strain of two souls being forced into one body, especially when Ranma was actively attempting to bury himself.  
  
She didn't remember the past six months too well because it had been six months since Akane had nearly drowned at Jhusenkyo. Her thoughts and impressions cut off abruptly at that point, although Ranma's memories gave her some general impressions.  
  
There was a hand on her shoulder; an insistent voice, which Akane ignored. She stared at the sun. The light washed everything away. The light should have washed everything away.  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
Well, minna-san! What do you think? There is one more installment of 'Akane', and it's the epilogue.  
  
This was probably the most difficult chapter to do, since I sped through it at light speed when I wrote the rough draft. I was so eager to get this one out that I forgot to explain some stuff the first time through!  
  
And for the person who guessed it, good shot. :) Somebody else wrote that I should not take people's advice about the endings to my stories, but continue them the way I originally intended. There is absolutely no need to worry about something like that, since I will NEVER EVER post a single chapter to a story that I have not already finished. I hate authors who leave me hanging and then never finish, so I refuse to be one of them.  
  
Flame-retardant e-mail should be sent to Kirinin@aol.com. Please make the message something Ranma-related or I will erase you. ;) 


	14. Chapter Fourteen

AKANE by Kirinin  
  
Disclaimer: I'm not worthy... but I'm using the characters anyway.  
  
CHAPTER FOURTEEN / EPILOGUE  
  
Genma was used to grasping the unseen. You don't have a gender-changing son or your own personal panda suit without doing that on a more or less daily basis. You don't develop a technique like the Umi-Sen Ken without doing it, either. And he'd surely had numerous brushes with the unknown, even magic, on occasion. As such, it wasn't too difficult to come to the conclusion that the blue-haired Tendo girl was indeed his only son, whom he had, until very recently, thought deceased.  
  
In a rare flash of insight, he imagined this was how Ukyo must have felt about Ranma. Being denied revenge was a strange experience. It seemed as though his sense of purpose had been pulled neatly out from under him. He also couldn't tell if he wanted to beat the truth out of his son or leave the boy alone until he came to his senses.  
  
The 'boy' was staring at the sunrise with a blank expression on her face. Finally the two schools are united, he thought, sighing deeply. After a moment he stood, making his way to sit near her, hoping to lend some comfort from his sheer presence.  
  
Akane stirred, coming to herself, but remained silent for a moment. A small tremor ran through her.  
  
Wondering what was coming, Genma eyed her warily. Akane looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. Turning suddenly, she buried her face into the sleeve of his gi and wailed.  
  
Genma twitched. This was new. This was... a girl. Perhaps it wasn't Ranma after all? But no, there was no mistaking it: this child really was some strange combination of his Ranma and the Tendo girl. Awkwardly, he draped an arm around her. She seemed to take this as encouragement, and wailed harder.  
  
Finally the crying spell wore down, and the girl called Akane Tendo drew away from the man who she supposed was her father. "I'm s-s-sorry," she sniffled. "I didn't know. I'm stupid, dad, I'm so stupid!"  
  
Genma frowned; Ranma had never called him 'dad', either. "You're not stupid," he replied. "You attempted to fulfill your honor as best you could, given the situation."  
  
Akane shook her head. "Stupid," she repeated. "Couldn't even save her! Me. Her. God, I'm so messed up!" Her hands flew to her mouth in sudden surprise.  
  
"What is it?" Genma inquired, becoming worried as the girl's eyes had begun to develop that glazed look again.  
  
"Dad, I'm dating a boy," she announced in a shocked and almost scandalized tone of voice. "I... I promised I'd tell him everything about Ranma... what do I do?"  
  
Genma shook his head. "If there's one thing I've ever learned from raising you, it's not to make promises I can't keep."  
  
Akane glared at him through her tears. "Don't be castin' stones, pops," she admonished.  
  
Genma blinked. Suddenly she was his Ranma all over again. "I..." he searched for something to say, all questions about this boy flying from his mind in surprise. "W-what are you going to tell... your father?"  
  
Akane's lips thinned, and the Ranma-Saotome-never-loses look adorned her features. It wasn't Ranma-Saotome-always-wins, Akane reminded herself, remembering her efforts to recall the phrase. And if there was a difference between always winning and never losing, Akane sure had found it.  
  
"I'm not going to tell him a thing," she replied. "And neither are you. Swear on... geez, what'll work for a layabout like you?"  
  
Genma growled, but he couldn't summon up a retort. Now that his child was... well, a girl... could he even fight her properly? "I swear," he finally replied. "On the School, I suppose. Though it's going to be hard to keep something this big from an old friend like Tendo."  
  
"Good enough," Akane replied. "I did this for a reason, and I still remember why." Her expression firmed again, and when she spoke it was with a different voice, a voice that the Nerimans hadn't heard in nearly seven months. It was Akane's voice. Not tinted with anything but Akane. "I am going to go home to Japan, and finish school, and run the dojo," she said clearly. Her gaze latched onto her father again and she raised an eyebrow. "No problem with that, is there pops?"  
  
Genma sighed. "I was hoping you might come on a training trip. You're sorely out of practice. Not to mention the fact that you still happen to be wanted for murder in Japan."  
  
Akane blinked in surprise, wondering how on earth she could have managed to forget that. "As for the martial arts, did I or did I not hold my own against you for quite some time? Or was that just my messed up memory again? Huh?"  
  
Genma felt a smile tug at his lips. "Still."  
  
"Honestly," Akane sighed, gazing upwards. "D'you really think Daddy would agree to that one? His precious little girl off on a training trip with the man who threw his son into a pit of starving c-... a pit of starving ca... A pit of..." Akane trailed off, biting off a curse. "You jerk! Now you've done it to us both!"  
  
"Maybe he can be convinced," Genma offered, tenaciously clinging to the previous subject. "Especially if the other option may be his precious baby girl in jail."  
  
A smile was making its way across Akane's features, too. "Maybe we can stop there first and then head out again." She paused. "You're not pissed off that you'd have to fight a weak girl?" she inquired doubtfully.  
  
Genma cleared his throat. "I might have emphasized that a bit much in our training, it's true; but there was a reason. You see, your mother is somewhat... domineering. I wanted you to be able to stand up to your wife, so you'd have a more... eh heh... equitable marriage."  
  
Akane stared at him, a slightly disbelieving expression flitting behind her eyes. "Really? You don't believe in that stuff at all?"  
  
Well, not much. "Of course not." Genma shrugged dismissively. "Above all, I was concerned about Nodoka-chan slicing our necks; if I pushed you a little, it was mostly for safety's sake." He paused. "Ranma... Akane..." Genma trailed off. "Girl. Form is mutable. The two of us know it better than anyone. And so... I am overjoyed to see you in one piece. No matter what."  
  
Akane's smile reappeared, replacing her hesitance. "I sorta guessed when you came at me for 'killing your only son'."  
  
Genma shrugged unconcernedly. "Honor."  
  
"You're an honorless dog and you know it," she replied, but she grabbed ahold of his arm and hugged it to her, leaning a bit on the older martial artist.  
  
A bemused smile settled on Genma's features. He could get used to this.  
Akane heaved the pack up on her back a little bit more. "I don't understand why I have to carry your stuff," she shot to Genma over her shoulder.  
  
"Stop complaining," Ryoga growled. "For crying out loud, it must be a quarter of what I usually cart around."  
  
"But it's not fair," she whined companionably, teasing him for the fun of it. "You have super-strength. What do I have? Charm? I can't charm the cookware."  
  
Genma chuckled. "You could try." He was learning how to appreciate his new daughter's sense of humor, which employed Ranma's defiant wit and Akane's cheerful stubbornness. Having a daughter was different from having a son, but so far Genma was enjoying it just as much. "Besides, Akane," he added, "you'll have to work if you want to become as strong as Ryoga."  
  
Akane grumbled good-naturedly under her breath, something about pigs and strength, but beyond that she was quiet. She was mostly quiet, actually- her mind was still awhirl, spinning like a child's top. It was a job, attempting to have all those memories accessible at a moment's notice, like a librarian informed she had to house double the number of books she usually did in the same amount of space. By lunchtime. The organization was problematic, too. Akane kept confusing to whom her memories had originally belonged. This morning she'd actually thought Mrs. Tendo was alive and Mrs. Saotome was dead, before she realized she'd worn a black dress to the funeral!  
  
Other, more disturbing things had become painfully clear, as well-things she could have wished were resolved earlier. Ranma and Akane had fought, they had bickered, and they had said and done hurtful things to one another.  
  
And they loved each other with an almost blinding devotion. Neither had ever been fully aware of the feelings of the other. P-chan was another thing, one she'd sort of been aware of before her awakening. Every past problem was gradually solved, every misunderstanding exposed. Her double past was an origami shape, complex and sharp, that continued to unfold until its true simplicity was revealed.  
  
Yet she was more at peace than she remembered being for a long time. As Ranma, she had been unable to forgive herself for allowing Akane to die. As Akane, she had been preoccupied terribly with the fact that she might have had something to do with Ranma's death. In her current state, she could hardly do either without becoming terribly confused. So instead, she walked and complained, cracked the occasional joke, and wondered what in God's name she'd say to Hiroshi.  
Nabiki swept her inside the house with a bear hug. "I'm so glad..." she began. "Mr. Saotome?!" she exclaimed. "And... Ryoga?"  
  
The two men in question nodded, as though they stopped by regularly and the fact that they'd returned the missing Tendo girl was no big deal. Well, they both USED to hang around a lot, Akane thought to herself amicably. "Come on, Nabiki, let us in. I'm seriously starvin'."  
  
Kasumi flitted into the room and treated the guests to a repeat of Nabiki's performance. Then she added, for good measure, "Akane! Where in the name of all the kami have you been?"  
  
Akane attempted to look casual and failed miserably. "Uhm... went on a... training mission?" she hazarded.  
  
Nabiki stared at her like she'd grown an extra head, and Kasumi blinked uncertainly. Akane giggled. "You two look nervous. Don't worry, Daddy ain't going to engage us. I hope."  
  
Genma sighed and Ryoga whapped her upside the head.  
  
"Ow," Akane complained, rubbing the back of her neck. She turned to face Kasumi, who looked as close as she came to murderous; Nabiki's left eyebrow began to twitch. Akane headed them off, though. "Don't worry, I'm a lot stronger, now. That was a love pat."  
  
Ryoga blushed and announced a desire to find the bathroom. "I'll take you," Nabiki offered. Akane was sure she wanted some info from the gullible lost boy first. She sighed, rolling her eyes as Ryoga glanced her way before heading off, as though to make certain she'd be all right where she was. Ryoga had been bugging her of late. It was like he didn't know whether he should kiss her for being Akane or hit her for being Ranma. He compromised by alternating between treating her like a sparring partner and casting her lovesick looks.  
  
Akane let Nabiki lead Ryoga away, despite knowing what the other girl was up to. Nabiki had helped her, after all, so she probably just wanted to hear Ryoga say she hadn't killed Ranma, or ask if Akane was really as okay as she seemed. Kasumi was being her usual wonderful self, disappearing into the kitchen after a moment to fix them something. "Akane, dear, would you like to help?" she inquired at the kitchen door.  
  
Akane blinked, then called out to her older sister, "Oh, no, oneechan, I can't cook worth a tinker's dam."  
  
A loud thud sounded from the kitchen.  
The next morning Akane attempted to slip into her uniform, but it no longer fit her properly. Genma had already begun training her, and she was slimmer in some places and more muscular in others. She sighed. One of the many things that had to change.  
  
Nabiki slipped into Akane's room and shut the door behind her. "You owe me big."  
  
Akane smiled warmly at her older sister. "Oneechan, I've owed you big for some time now."  
  
Nabiki's lips slowly widened to form a grin. "Don't you get it? I've figured it out!"  
  
Akane's expression fell off her features like it had been dropped. "Huh?"  
  
"Sure-your sister's a baka sometimes, you know that? It's so obvious!"  
  
"Un... it is?" Akane tugged at her uniform, futilely attempting to make it stay where she wanted, so that she didn't have to look at Nabiki.  
  
"Sure-it makes perfect sense. For one thing, it's in character for Ranma, far more than it would be for him to have taken his own life. Something happened in which Ranma, Ryoga, or you, employed the Shi Shi Hokodan." She nodded gravely. "I studied some of my old footage and figured out that's the attack that ended his life."  
  
Akane nodded. "And?"  
  
"And you were in danger from the attack. Ranma sacrificed himself for you, Akane. It's the only thing that makes sense. It explains your DNA on Ranma's clothing, as well as the blood that's yours, which looks like it must have been from shrapnel. Ranma knocked you out of the way."  
  
Akane breathed a relieved sigh, but at the same time, a very small smile graced her features. It was a singularly... fitting explanation. She didn't want to be conceited, but she would much rather Ranma have a hero's death than be a murder victim. "You can prove it?"  
  
"All that matters is reasonable doubt, darling, and I can sure do that. Your doctors could attest under oath that you were truly in shock when you came back to us in Japan, that you were not faking in any way. Ryoga blabbed to me in the bathroom that Ranma's death was an accident of some kind-and if we could get him to talk sense in front of a large group of people, he'd back you up too, I'm sure of it. I think when he talked to you that night, accusing you, he was simply disturbed over the death."  
  
"That sounds about right," Akane replied dazedly. Her expression shifted until it became beautifully warm. "Nabiki..."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, eternally grateful, all of that," Nabiki replied impatiently, but there was a sparkle to her eyes that Akane hadn't seen in ages. The older girl winked. "Think I'm gonna be a lawyer," she confided in a soft, triumphant voice.  
  
"AKANE!" Genma's voice floated up from downstairs. "TIME FOR SCHOOL!"  
  
"Coming pops!" Akane shot Nabiki an apologetic look for running off so fast, not seeming to notice that she had misspoken. "Listen, oneechan, I owe you forever!" She slipped out the door, not noticing the shell-shocked look in her sister's eyes as the pieces of the puzzle suddenly and completely rearranged themselves in her mind.  
Akane slipped outside, wearing a yellow shirt and extremely familiar looking pair of black pants. For a moment, she gazed appraisingly at the sidewalk before her eyes slid up, as if pulled, to the familiar fence. Her feet left the ground and she landed softly on the railing.  
  
"Akane!" Hiroshi ran up to her, waving one arm excitedly.  
  
"Hiroshi, man!" Akane called. Her stomach did a tiny flip even as she stood almost perfectly still.  
  
"I was worried about you. What happened?"  
  
"D-don't worry about it for now," Akane said, hesitance coloring her voice. "I swear I'll tell you all about it soon, okay?" She paused, and took a deep breath. "Is it alright if for now... we're just friends?"  
  
Hiroshi shrugged. "I really am a bad kisser, then," he replied.  
  
"Average," Akane replied, examining the sky. She giggled. "Honestly. Let's just tone it down for a while, okay?"  
  
"That's alright," he replied. "But leave me waiting for long and I might get as persistent as Kuno."  
  
"Impossible," she assured him.  
  
Hiroshi looked up at her, slightly puzzled. "What's with the outfit, anyway?"  
  
Akane smiled. "Wanted something a little more... me," she replied. She made a face. "Besides, I've grown out of my uniform."  
  
"Are you going to come down from there?" Hiroshi queried anxiously. "You know that makes me nervous as hell."  
  
"Nobody ain't ever gonna clip my wings, Hiro," she told him, holding her arms out to the side to feel the wind rush past her body.  
  
Gods it was good to be alive.  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
Damn. If I thought it was difficult to re-write Ch 13...  
  
I kept on thinking of truly elaborate alternate explanations for Nabiki to come up with until I realized the most obvious conclusion. Well, duh. Kirinin no baka!  
  
This begs for a sequel, but I refuse to do one unless I actually have plot... as tempting as it is to simply see how Akane/Ranma gets along, and how Nabiki deals with what she knows, or suspects. Well, minna-san? What do you think?  
  
I MUST give thanks to:  
  
Janete, for putting up with me and my pickiness... and for being my typist... and Janete again for always giving me advice and for allowing me to gauge reader reactions and torture her with my plot. Finally, thanks to everybody who has read this story. Your support has overwhelmed me! :)  
  
Send email, death threats and lovings to: Kirinin@aol.com 


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